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Something of Interest

Byjonathan

Note:  Speculation by some of my more rabid critics of my impending death just because I haven’t blogged for awhile is greatly exaggerated. My muse has been on vacation while I have been in one of my reflective modes (read: dealing with fatigue) lately.

To tide my more avid readers over, here is a post from my draft folder, written last winter.  Let’s hope my muse returns soon so I can get back to writing about more current matters.

something of interestPart of my history in Kansas City is that of being an outspoken gay rights activist. For a few years I was the “go to” guy for the Kansas City Star and most of the local television news reporters.  It helped that I worked as the regional editor of the Lesbian and Gay News-Telegraph, a respected gay newspaper (as opposed to the local bar rags).

I’ve lost far more archive materials than I’ve managed to keep, but with some time on my hands waiting for Spring to arrive, I’ve dipped into some of the old storage boxes and have been scanning photographs, and more recently some video from the past.

The clips below are of a 1993 (?) interview on a local cable channel show called “Something of Interest”. If anyone knows the name of the host, I’d appreciate knowing it again, as I’ve forgotten.

I am not so vain as to think that very many people will actually watch all three clips, but what else am I to do with them, if not post them here for posterity?

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uofdfZBD4qM]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31vkzK4gcH0&feature]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9itxKgJlYbI&feature]

Wait... there's more!

  • By any other name

    A whole year?! It’s hard to believe that it has been more than a year since I’ve written anything on my blog. I don’t even know how to begin to catch up. I blame Facebook, mostly. I’ve been addicted to the lightning-fast pace of information exchange there, and I’ve written hundreds, maybe even thousands of posts and…

  • Retreat and Adventure — Midwest Men’s Festival

    When I received my HIV diagnosis in 1998, I withdrew from my community of gay men. I “went to ground”, thinking that isolation was the only safe place to avoid being criticized for seroconverting at such a late date, when we were all supposed to know better.

    This past week has been yet another bifurcation point in my life. I returned to a community I have known about, if not been a steady part of, for more than 30 years. A community of men whom I could touch and hug. Men whose tears might wet my face and whose body heat and life forces I could feel in ways that can only happen in person. It really did feel like coming home.

  • The truth about Truvada: PrEP won’t stop AIDS

    I’m willing to grant that gay men are entitled to use PrEP… provided they have access to all the information they need to make an informed decision. Informed consent has been a hallmark of the HIV and AIDS research and prevention efforts for three decades, and that shouldn’t be waived for the campaign favoring PrEP.

    Gay men deserve to know that all the claims for Truvada reducing the risk of acquiring HIV-positivity  are based on trials—funded by Gilead—that emphasized the importance of using condoms…

  • Confessions of a heretic AIDS dissident

    You might not know it from reading the comments left here on my blog, but there are more than a few AIDS dissidents who really don’t like how I think or what I write about.

    There’s a whole thread on a very popular Facebook page called “Rethinking AIDS”, discussing my open letter to Dora. Last I looked, that thread had nearly 100 comments, and very few of those comments were about Dora, Ruggiero or the defense of academic freedom.

    No, the gist of the thread was whether or not I am in “the AIDS Zone.” It seems that because I did not use “air quotes” around the term “HIV disease”, I’m not really an AIDS dissident. Others took issue with my post for daring to publish that some AIDS Rethinkers hold a very narrow view about “HIV” and “AIDS”, while others of us are merely “questioning” the whole affair. None of them chose to comment directly to me here.

    Some of the most visible and vocal Rethinkers seem intent on imposing their own “beliefs” (another loaded term that deserves quotes) on the entire movement. There has long been a tendency to try to impose a sort of litmus test to determine whether or not one is a true “AIDS dissident”.

    Since I first met the AIDS dissident community via the AIDS Myth Exposed forums—since renamed Questioning AIDS—several years ago, I’ve become aware of several of the various factions, distinctive personalities and divisions within that broad group. Now I’m finding it ironic just how guilty some of these people are at their own version of “bone-pointing”.

  • Pharmaceutical solutions to AIDS are not enough

    A recent phone conversation with a friend is helping me to continue to refine what I want to focus on as an AIDS dissident activist. In a passionate outburst that revealed a new side of his character, he blurted out his dismay that our society in general and our gay community in particular seems to be willing to settle for a solution to AIDS that relies exclusively on drugs from the pharmaceutical industry.

3 Comments

  1. Ever look back at some of the things you used to say about HIV and AIDS and laugh your ass off at how ignorant you were back then?

    I know I do.

    — Gos

    Reply

    1. Sometimes I laugh, but more often I’m actually distressed that my misguided efforts in the past helped to promote and prop up the very system that is now hurting us.

      Reply

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