Just a quick shout-out and smooches to Auntie Cece (Cecilia Chung) who is sweltering in Mexico City right now preparing to speak at the 2008 International AIDS Conference (see also: live webcasts + conference coverage). Go girl! It’s really awful that the conference opens just as we’ve discovered that the CDC has been underreporting HIV/AIDS infections by at least 40% for at least ten years, and has known about it for months, but only now are they fessing up to it. Ugh.
Ugh, that article is depressing, especially since it points out something that has been obvious for years…that real HIV education/prevention, much like real sex ed, has been hampered by politics and ideology (i.e., religion) instead of being treated head on like the PUBLIC HEALTH issue that it is. The overal health and well-being of the populace takes precedence over any one group’s moral contructs. There is way too much sexual shaming still going on for gays and bisexuals (the “down low” in the African-American community) and also for straight people who are not as careful as they can and should be because their real sexual desires and actions are at odds with the ones they THINK they should have, and risky behavior and lack of frank communication results. I hope we can take off the rose-colored blinders and give this issue the attention it clearly needs!