• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Politics
  • Health
  • Travel
  • Gay Pride
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Men
  • Space
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Monkeypox
  • Film/TV

Love letters and Hate Mail To World AIDS Day

Michael Goff December 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

world aids day 2017

Leo and I wrote two very different posts on the same day, World AIDS Day two years ago that went in very different directions. Both were true and relevant though somewhat diametrically opposed indicating another pivot point in this supermarathon trek. Things are looking up for those with resources at least with some headway being made across the board. Enjoy what you have and we love you all. –MG

Today I Hail you Boogeyman.

Dear AIDS,

Today I Hail you Boogeyman.

Today I’ll remember the first time your acronym tied itself to my Gay Identity before I could even fully develop it. Today I remember the many names you’ve had: Saint’s Disease, Gay Cancer, GRIDS, House in Venice, Gift.

Today I’ll admire how elegantly you use silence to multiply, how neglect is your breeding ground. I’ll think back on the cocktail parties and potential romances that were ground to a screeching halt with the mere mention of your name. I’ll wonder how, after 30 years, the fear of you still has no name. No single word to describe the panic of a broken condom, the uneasiness of a regular flu, the sweaty palms of an HIV test. All while you changed our language, even added a few words. You made “natural sex” into “unsafe sex”, anyone wanting to have it into a “slut,” you boiled entire people down to “-” or “+” signs.

Today I’m in awe that the damage you can do to a body does not compare to what you can do to someone’s self-worth. Today I’ll recall the suicidal binges and sexual outbursts that followed the seroconversions of my brothers. Today I’ll even admit that you and Meth still have really great thing going. I didn’t think it would last but you guys still dance really, really well together.world aids day 2017

Today I’ll lament on the spaces you closed, the bathhouses, bars and backrooms that shut their doors in a cloud of bleach. All the books, paintings, films and speeches that were never created and the advice from older men that my generation so desperately needs but will never get.

AIDS Day: one day EVERY little queer will know a lifetime without you.

Today I’ll even laugh at the blue balls you gave me in my 20’s and the terrible biohazard tramp stamp tattoos you made cool for a while.

Today I’ll give you the recognition you deserve in the way that other cultures have respected their own holocausts, genocides, plagues and natural disasters.

But Virus, you get one day from me.

My other 364 days are dedicated to fucking you up. To talking, asking, risking all of it with my community, to doing everything in our power so that one day EVERY little queer will know a lifetime without you.

Enjoy your big day,

-Leo Herrera #WorldAIDSDay 2015
(Originally published by the author on Facebook)

kissing doesnt kill 1

#hfad Happy Fuckin’ AIDS Day.

And, no apologies for this one…

one day EVERY little queer will know a lifetime without you.I’ve hated AIDS for killing my friends and decimating the generations of gay men ahead of me. We shouldn’t have had to care for, and lose so many.

But beyond that, I really never wanted AIDS to also become …a metaphor; a long-term profit center for drug companies; a chronic manageable illness; a battle of condoms vs. meds; a battle of stigma vs. sexual liberation; another way to criminalize my sexuality; a symbolic art-covering holiday; something we need to explain to young people; a political litmus test or positioning point;

…. breath…

one day EVERY little queer will know a lifetime without you.another way to discriminate against people with less access and those living in poverty; a rampant global epidemic; the reason my generation of gay men is even more damaged when it comes to sex and intimacy; a platform for building a career, “personal brand”, or creative relevancy; a way for consumer goods and entertainers to disingenerously (my word) show faux compassion; or for it tounite/divide/define/torture my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters for decades while those in power–and in science–made fun and used our lives to advance cynical agendas. (http://www.vanityfair.com/…/reagan-administration-response-…).

Sure some things have changed, but the costs have been too high. It’s all taken too long. Negligence and callous disregard have allowed AIDS to spread out of control. Happy AIDS Day.

I wish i had been able to spend all that time over the last decades–the energy, emotion, worry, anxiety, fear, empathy, and mental cycling–on other things.

I wish I didn’t have to say that being an AIDS activist and advocate is one of a few places I’ve found real meaning in my life.

Everything doesn’t happen for a reason.

Anything good that someone would like to put a happy face on –or a “spiritual” one — and claim is the result of AIDS and the mobilization against it, I’d gladly trade back.

I’m not #grateful, nor do I feel #blessed, about any of it.

It’s an excellent punchline, but you can’t really make “lemonAIDS”.

It didn’t have to go this way. And I will never forgive those who let it.

No. I just wish it hadn’t happened.

Happy Fuckin’ AIDS Day.

–Michael Goff, #WorldAIDSDay 2015
(Originally published as a Facebook post)

AIDS Day 2017

This picture from 22 years ago with Spencer Squeaky Cox and ACT UP at the March on Washington in 1993. (Thanks Thomas M. Keane for one of the few photos I have of that time)

Topics: Uncategorized More Posts About: ACT UP, activism, AIDS, AIDS/HIV, Anxiety, leo herrera, LIFE, Truvada, World AIDS Day

Related Posts
  • Resolutions For Queers 2022; LGBTQ To Do List; Gay Agenda 2022 — WEB STORY
  • ‘Freddie Mercury The Final Act’ Covers Singers Final Years, Done His Way. Bandmates, Assistants Detail The Joy, Strength , Stigma For New Doc
  • Raven Saunders’ ‘X’ Protest Gesture Did Not Violate Rules, Says USOPC
  • Opinion: The Right-Wing Airing of Imaginary Grievances Like Sex Ed Is Not and Never Has Been Used To Groom

    Opinion: The Right-Wing Airing of Imaginary Grievances Like Sex Ed Is Not and Never Has Been Used To Groom

      Published by NJ.com   Let’s start this post off with a small bit of objective truth: There is no such thing as the widespread use of sexual education curriculum to groom young children. None. It …Read More »
  • Tan France gets parenting advice from Gigi Hadid

    Tan France gets parenting advice from Gigi Hadid

      Published by BANG Showbiz English   Tan France gets parenting tips from Gigi Hadid. The 39-year-old star and his husband Rob France welcomed their son Ismail into the world via surrogate last July and he’s …Read More »
  • U.S. health officials releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for monkeypox – CDC

    U.S. health officials releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for monkeypox – CDC

    Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials are in the process of releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for use in monkeypox cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday, adding there …Read More »
  • Dame Angela Lansbury to receive Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tonys

    Dame Angela Lansbury to receive Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tonys

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Dame Angela Lansbury is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tony Awards. The 96-year-old actress – who has won five Tonys during her career – will be honoured …Read More »
Previous Post: « Michael Flynn, James Comey, Trump Christmas Tree Lighting, Prince George, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Markle: HOT LINKS
Next Post: Under Trump’s Tax Plan, LGBT People Suffer »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Vladimir Putin’s TV Appearances ‘Staged’ As Russian Leader Continues To Suffer Worsening Health Problems

    Vladimir Putin’s TV Appearances ‘Staged’ As Russian Leader Continues To Suffer Worsening Health Problems

  • US flight brings tons of needed baby formula from Germany

    US flight brings tons of needed baby formula from Germany

  • Courtney Love apologises for ‘bullying’ Amber Heard

    Courtney Love apologises for ‘bullying’ Amber Heard

  • ‘Desperate To Chase His Lost Relevance’: Donald Trump SLAMS Mike Pence’s ‘Plans’ To Run For President In 2024

    ‘Desperate To Chase His Lost Relevance’: Donald Trump SLAMS Mike Pence’s ‘Plans’ To Run For President In 2024

Break

  • Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo and Noami Ackie join ‘Parasite’ Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s new movie And it Sounds Mind Blowing

    Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo and Noami Ackie join ‘Parasite’ Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s new movie And it Sounds Mind Blowing

  • Starbucks to completely exit Russia after Ukraine invasion

    Starbucks to completely exit Russia after Ukraine invasion

  • Evan Spiegel & Miranda Kerr Pay Off $10 Million In Loans Of Otis College’s Graduating Class

    Evan Spiegel & Miranda Kerr Pay Off $10 Million In Loans Of Otis College’s Graduating Class

  • Vladimir Putin’s Daughter SECRETLY Living In Germany With Man Named Igor Zelensky

    Vladimir Putin’s Daughter SECRETLY Living In Germany With Man Named Igor Zelensky

RSS Partner Links

  • Morning Wood
  • 11 Most Famous & Best Premium Gay Sites Of 2022
  • “Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant & Kyle Mooney left SNL” links
  • Duchess Meghan came out to see Prince Harry’s polo team again this weekend
  • Kourtney Kardashian's Wedding Photos - See Her Multiple Dresses from Italian Affair with Travis Barker!
  • Natalia Dyer Doesn't Really Get The Interest In Her & Charlie Heaton's Real Life Relationship
  • Jamie Foxx Spotted Making Out with Mystery Woman on a Yacht
  • Kevin McGarry & Kayla Wallace To Star in Hallmark's 'My Grown Up Christmas List' Movie Airing During Christmas in July Event
  • OMG, looking for that fresh summer look: Avoid these horrible haircut FAILS

Most Recent

  • ‘The Kids in the Hall’ review: Sketch comedy is a young person’s game — yet here are older guys just ripping into the form as if they never left

    ‘The Kids in the Hall’ review: Sketch comedy is a young person’s game — yet here are older guys just ripping into the form as if they never left

  • Opinion: The Right-Wing Airing of Imaginary Grievances Like Sex Ed Is Not and Never Has Been Used To Groom

    Opinion: The Right-Wing Airing of Imaginary Grievances Like Sex Ed Is Not and Never Has Been Used To Groom

  • Tan France gets parenting advice from Gigi Hadid

    Tan France gets parenting advice from Gigi Hadid

  • U.S. health officials releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for monkeypox – CDC

    U.S. health officials releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for monkeypox – CDC

  • Dame Angela Lansbury to receive Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tonys

    Dame Angela Lansbury to receive Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tonys

  • Factbox: Seven races to watch in Georgia, Alabama midterm primaries, Texas run-offs

    Factbox: Seven races to watch in Georgia, Alabama midterm primaries, Texas run-offs

  • Cybill Shepherd supports Bruce Willis after aphasia diagnosis

    Cybill Shepherd supports Bruce Willis after aphasia diagnosis

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Log in