As part of the post-Stonewall generation, I grew up at a time when AIDS was matter-of-fact. That’s not to say there wasn’t stigma or misinformation. In school, I listened to friends joke pretty brutally about it. AIDS was something gay men got deservedly, and no one knew anyone who was gay. I barely understood that I was gay myself.
In gay literature and films of the 1980’s and early 90’s, AIDS always figured in, often as a dominant theme. Our stories were sometimes criticized as too AIDS-focused, excluding other facets of gay life. But really, what was the alternative? Men getting sick and dying from the disease was the reality. To omit these stories would have been dishonest.
My favorite novel from the time was John Weir’s The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket. It’s been compared to Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and concerns a young man who finds out he’s HIV positive and goes on an adventure in New York City, a sort of last hurrah. In those days, no one lived long with AIDS. I didn’t personally know anyone who had contracted it, but the terrifying cinematic images—emaciated men in hospital beds with gory lesions—were branded in my consciousness.
The first gay film I ever saw, in secret, sneaking off to a late night showing at an indie theater in Manhattan, was Longtime Companion. I cried through the last thirty minutes of the movie, but it wasn’t as depressing of an initiation to gay life as it might sound. I saw men caring for each other. I saw the possibility of fighting against injustice. I saw hope.
The AIDS epidemic has changed and accordingly, so have gay men’s stories. I was surprised and encouraged by a recent statistic. The life expectancy for someone diagnosed with AIDS has increased to 30-40 years such that on average, many people with AIDS will live well into their 60’s, some even longer, approaching a healthy lifespan.
Yet AIDS continues to impact our lives. The number of newly infected men has stayed flat from year to year. In some urban areas, as many as one in five gay men are positive. There’s been a lot of focus on transmission rates among young guys, but there are new diagnoses in virtually every age group so it’s not just a problem for the younger generation.
From my experience, I don’t think that the major factor is that guys no longer care or that they are choosing to get infected (“bug chasers” was the media hype a few years back). HIV is sexually transmitted, and sexual behavior is stubbornly resistant to change. Those who criticize gay men for being “promiscuous” or lacking self-control might ask themselves: is it healthier to fear sex or to enjoy sex?
Eroticizing safer sex is the best solution in my opinion. Finding a cure is of course even better, but for now we need realistic approaches, gay-affirming approaches, versus shame and fear campaigns.
This year’s World AIDS Day theme promotes “Universal Access and Human Rights.” These are issues that impact people everywhere, but they’re hugely different if you live in a western country or in places like sub-Saharan Africa. Access to treatment is a problem in the United States. For the majority of people living with AIDS globally, it’s a tragedy: about half of people living with AIDS have access to the medicine they need. Think locally, act globally. We’ve got a long way to go.
Hey, andrewjpeters, it’s me John Weir, and thanks for the shout out for my first book, and thanks for providing a link so that your readers can immediately buy a copy! I just found your blog, and I’m enjoying it. Hope you’re doing well. John Weir
Hey John – Wow, thanks for stopping by!! Eddie Socket is an amazing book that was both a fun read and a story that opened up possibilities for me during my formative homosexual years. Thank you for that. It’s my pleasure to spread the word about it. 🙂