Positively running toward change

Something really phenomenal is about to happen. Something so monumental that a huge shift in awareness might even take place.

In light of my 13 years of surviving with HIV and the current social stigma surrounding HIV in this country, I am about to embark on something pretty scary.

On June 22, on my mom’s 70th birthday, I am going to run 336 miles from Syracuse, N.Y., to the GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Center) in New York City.

My goal is to get this movement picked up by the media, both in Syracuse and NYC, to give a face to HIV – not just on a global level, but on a neighborhood-community level.

I want to initiate a change. A change where people who are living with HIV see themselves as being whole. Knowing that they are beautiful and important people regardless of their status, and that they are not their status.

The deal is, HIV scares the heck out of me. Until yesterday, I was awakened by my heart that I have been living the past 13 years feeling like I was going to die at any time. As if I had an expiration date that was soon approaching. That is far from the deal, because I am incredibly healthy. Besides, we all have a short time on this beautiful planet and anyone could go at anytime.

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A bad check

No longer content to simply pretend that he has frozen the tax levy, when it has actually increased by nearly $45 million during his tenure, Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker upped the ante during his State of the County address by making an arbitrary and irresponsible bet when he promised to lower the tax levy next year. This may say more about his perception of his political prospects than his management ability. Given the state takeovers and service deterioration that Milwaukee County has experienced, it’s clear that the county executive’s managerial track record is lackluster.

There is no need to propose a responsible budget if you plan to skip town for a new job. The impending fallout will not manifest until later, when taxpayers suffer the increasing consequences of service cuts, deferred maintenance and broken promises.

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Ask Congress to condemn Uganda Bill

In Uganda, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 was introduced in Parliament in October 2009. The bill targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Ugandans, their advocates, and those who know someone LGBT. It would reaffirm existing penalties for homosexuality and introduce sweeping new criminal provisions. Some of these troubling provisions include: imprisonment for life for anyone convicted of the “offence of homosexuality”; punishment for the “promotion of homosexuality” with prison terms; imprisonment for up to three years for anyone who fails to report to the authorities LGBT people or LGBT human rights defenders they know; and most egregiously, the application of the death penalty to anyone in Uganda who has consensual same-sex relations repeatedly or who has consensual same-sex relations and is HIV positive. If this bill were to pass, it would be a devastating blow to the human rights of all Ugandans and would significantly impede effective HIV prevention and care.

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A resolution

Like many others, I was not sorry to see 2009 come to an end. A lot of misery, great expectations, dashed hopes, deferred dreams and daily anxiety were packed into those 12 months.

As 2010 dawns, I can’t say I possess irrefutable proof for budding optimism, but there are some signs, both obvious and nuanced, that positive change may be coming our way.

There are, of course, some big indicators. From my perspective, an active LGBT community that recognizes that our activism and engagement are essential if we are to see movement on LGBT issues at the national level. This coming year we must elevate our involvement in national and local politics, understanding that this is the only way we can hold our elected leaders accountable.

I respect and admire our president a great deal. I have some sense of the enormity of his task and the toxicity of his opposition. Even so, there is no reason why he cannot exert his moral leadership and his actual power to make change on behalf of the LGBT community and our families.

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