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Time for a cure

Today thousands of people will walk the streets of West Hollywood to raise money for Aids Project Los Angeles (APLA).  This is an important act of charity.  And APLA has been a leader in dealing with the enormity of the HIV/AIDS Crisis since the beginning of it.

I am glad that people walk and still try to raise money for people with HIV/AIDS and AIDS services.  But increasingly AIDS is off the map.  Oh AIDS is still around. Lots of people have the HIV virus but it is not the “sexy” cause it once was.  But AIDS is still here. It is still active. It is still making people really sick. And yes people still die from all the complications a suppressed immune system brings with it.

What is scarier still is the number of young people who believe it isn’t a problem.  My friends it is a problem and if you are sexually active with multiple partners and you are engaging in unsafe and unprotected sexual intercourse then you are opening yourself up to infection not only by the incurable HIV virus but so many sexually transmitted diseases that lurk beneath the next encounter.

SO PLEASE take care of yourself.  And remember that AIDS isn’t gone.  It is still here wrecking havoc on people’s lives.

It is time for a cure.  Time for research and development.   Time for the government to fund more research and protocols.  Time for private industry to invest more money.

But in the meantime. Thank you for walking. Thank you for staying aware. And thank you for remembering so many of our friends who still fight each and every day to live with hope and dignity even as they are HIV positive.