THEGAYUK WINTER 13 /14 Issue 1
FEATURE
Is the gay community as
politically charged today as it
was in the 80s and 90s?
!
!
PS: Yes it is charged up.
AIDS forced us out of the closet.
Either we laid down and died and
got wiped out or we had to stand up
and come out of the closet and fight
back.
!
Once we did
that, we
realised that
as a
community we
had immense
power and this
film just
shows it
beautifully.
We had this
innate power
as a
community
and that
launched the
modern gay
rights
movement.
Especially in
the States with
gays in the
military first and nobody ever
thought we'd have close to 20
states now in the US with gay
marriage.
!
Gay marriage is now
happening in the UK and
across Europe and countries
in South America. This is just
something I would never
have dreamed of.
!
It became the issue in the gay rights
movement because all my friends
!
It’s still quite challenging. You have
to take the medication for the rest of
your life. You have to remain anally
compulsively
engaged in the
healthcare system
in order to not
screw that up
because, if you
mess up on your
meds you will
eventually get sick.
There are still
people with HIV
who die. I wouldn’t
wish this on
anyone and we
need to give the
real picture.
DF: We have to
keep on talking
about it. That’s
what we’re not
doing. People are
making decisions
about their own lives in a total
vacuum thinking, ‘So I’ll take a
pill a day’ and if we were talking
about it collectively as a
community we might be up to
convey the information that Peter
is talking about. That these pills
are really tough pills. It might give
you a near normal lifespan but it’s
not going to give you, necessarily,
a near normal life. We don’t know
what people are going to be like
50 years out on this medication.
“I think if I was a
22-year-old HIV
negative man
now I’d be pretty
oblivious myself.
I think it’s human !
PS: Plus the stigma is horrible,
nature”
and you’re going to face a life of
With the sharp increase of new
HIV infections, particularly
amongst young gay men, how
does that make you feel, when
you see that happening?
!
!
now I’d be pretty oblivious myself. I
think it’s human nature. We just
have to accept that and work around
it and use social media and tell the
real story about how living with HIV
still is something that nobody
should want to face a life of.
!
There are massive amounts
of activism around, but I
wish there was a little bit of it
to be brought back to finish
the work on AIDS. I speak
out about that a lot these
days because obviously the
crisis is not over. It’s liveable but the
virus is still infecting way too many
gay men and we need to fight that.
We need to slowly wind down this
epidemic. We have the tools to do it.
!
PS: It’s frustrating, but I don’t feel
anger towards younger gay men
who are not responding to HIV like
my generation responded to it
because it was two very different
times. My generation changed its
behaviours and fought against HIV /
AIDS.
were dying in front of me. In the
absence of that death, which only
happened because of the amazing
success of the activism we did, you
have a very different challenge, you
have apathy.
!
There’s a lack of fear and without
that fear, which is an incredible
motivator for behaviour change and
activism, it’s a very different battle.
!
So I’m not casting blame, I think if I
was a 22-year-old HIV negative man
that stigma: Dating, finding a
boyfriend or a future husband,
you’ll find a massive challenge. It
is a massive challenge for people
who are HIV and that’s horrible but
that’s the reality that we’re faced
with these days. ∎
! !
!
!
!
How to Survive a Plague is available
to watch on Netflix, Amazon, and
iTunes
51