Lika Starr

 
December 1st, 2008 — World Aids Day, a day to remember, to spread the message of prevention and hope for the future.  Get the word out, not just today but everyday.  Don’t shun the thought of discussing HIV and AIDS.  So many have forgotten, so many have died. 

When I started this blog last year I made a promise that I would spread the message 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, year after year.  At that time I placed the following image in the sidebar of this blog and it has remained there since.  Now it’s time to change that image to a another one on this World Aids Day anniversary.  I choose old well circulated images for a specific reason - they stand out.  People will see an old photo they’ve seen years ago and think, “that’s old, what’s the deal?”  Then they look and see the message - simple but effective.

It’s time to say good-bye to the 2007 version and bring in the 2008 which will stand its place on this blog.  It will stay there throughout design changes as the previous one has witnessed 3 blog redesigns. 

Other bloggers have asked me why I keep it there.  I tell them because it’s important.  So many of our gay brothers have forgotten or are too young to know what it was like in the 80’s with the onset of HIV & AIDS; the scare; the shock; the death.  I was just a kid but I remember very well all the headlines.  At the time as a teenager I was just realizing that I was attracted to boys.  All I heard on the news were that gays were dying at an alarming rate.  It was considered a homosexual disease at the time.

Today, drug cocktails keep people with AIDS alive and healthy more than ever before.  That’s great but it still kills too.  Not everyone is lucky.  That’s why it is so important, yet many younger gay men, including men of my age group think nothing much of it anymore.  I’ve heard men say, “So what if I get AIDS, I’ll just take the drugs and have sex with other HIV positive guys.”  With some guys it’s really that superficial to them.  That’s a real shame in my opinion.  I say to them; what if it doesn’t work?  You can still die, sometimes the drugs don’t work.  And, who wants to take countless pills everyday for the rest of their lives.  Even sadder is that if the subject comes up it seems almost taboo to talk about.  Guys don’t like discussing it.  But worse than that, a lot of guys today don’t even think about it at all. 

Time to bring in the new 2008 version of the Express Yourself - Protect Yourself banner.  Please feel free to distribute on your blogs or other pages.  All I ask is that the photo not be hotlinked.  Please copy and upload it directly.