I've been putting off writing about this for days. I keep meaning to sit down and write down my experience with ADAP and why it's so important, blah blah blah... it should be easy. But i just keep staring and a blank screen or jotting down uber-bland jems like "Please join me on the polk street steps of city hall for a fun filled day of AIDS activism," i mean, seriously. And this rally is tomorrow, so after another failed attempt last night i said 'i'll sleep on it,' and i got up early this morning and opened up my lap top and i just couldn't focus! and now i'm sitting here at my desk and i finally figured it out. I'm scared.
A good GOOD friend of mine, a brother, has been in and out of the hospital recently. He found out he was positive several years ago, didn't seek out the care he needed and now he has AIDS. I have been kind of a crazy person lately... hospitals a rough places for me at the best of times, and he is so important to me... But he is gonna be okay. He is getting the care he needs and he is gonna be okay, he is gonna be okay thanks to ADAP. Because without ADAP there is no way he would be able to afford the anti-retrovirals and other incredibly expensive medications that he needs to get better. Neither could I, or almost any of my friends. My Brothers.
Now i have to imagine a my world without ADAP and that means a world of AIDS. If you cut funding for ADAP you will take away the only source of life saving medication for thousands of gay men. We will die. That simple. It'll be the 80's all over again. And the thought of watching half the people i love wither up and pass away, before i finally go too... I don't want to have to think about that.
So if you ever wanted to do something for your Positive Brothers, YOU CAN DO THIS. We will be on the Polk Street steps of City Hall tomorrow at 11:30. We will be easy to find, just look for the homos wearing red and waving signs. Project Inform has lined up some great speakers, like Cecilia Chung and Jason Villalobos. We will Save ADAP. Lives depend on it.
1 comment:
I'm sorry to miss this event - I'm at work in the East Bay all day. I sent this email to the governor:
http://govnews.ca.gov/govmail/webmail.php
The AIDS Drug Assistance Program has saved the lives of countless Californians. Cutting it would threaten a return to the day when AIDS was a surefire, sometimes swift death sentence for people in the prime of their lives.
Please support ADAP. It's a lifesaver. Cutting this program would be a tragedy, multiplied many times over.
Paul Festa
San Francisco
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