Culture

Today is Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

by smkovalinsky | September 27, 2009 at 07:38 am

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Today September 27 marks the second annual National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS awareness day. The National Association of People with AIDS formed the commemoration day last year to keep the issue of AIDS awareness in the forefront of public discourse.

The day also serves as a reminder to raise and improve levels of community awareness about AIDS, to foster open discussion about living with HIV, to encourage early and regular testing, to discuss various treatment regimens and methods, and to keep an open and continuing dialog about the myriad of issues that gay men who are living with HIV/AIDS face.

These issues may be anything from employment discrimination, relationship problems, the logistics of medical treatment, financial aid for treatment, housing issues, and psychological treatment.

In Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachusettes, one of the gay meccas of America, the Harbor to the Bay Bike Ride has also been organized for the same purpose, and also serves as a fund-raising event.

On September 27, 2008 the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) launched the first National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NGMHAAD). NGMHAAD’ was designed to refocus attention on a community that has long been affected by the HIV epidemic in both the U.S. and abroad.
The day is set as a call to action to counter growing complacency about HIV among gay men, at a time when the gay community is facing a resurgence of new HIV infections.

Today marks the second annual NGMHAAD and this years focus is on how gay men use the internet and how that medium can be used to distribute information including prevention.

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Roy C

at 08:03 on September 27th, 2009

I hope that the gay community discusses the utter indifference to good health practices that underlie continuing outbreaks in the gay community.

Viagra, meth and Craig's List. That is the formula for unprotected binging. Lots of sex addiction out there and all the good information gets overridden and rejected.

This has nothing to do with discrimination. This has to do with the de-spiritualization of sex and a rejection of responsibility.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 16:14 on September 27th, 2009

Roy, AIDS/HIV can no longer be defined as a "gay man's disease", or one of "utter indifference to good health practices." One look at AIDS Among African Americans should 'set the record straight'. Too, I hardly think that 'de-spiritualization of sex and a rejection of responsibility' can be limited to the gay community. It's across the board, IMO.