The AIDS Action Council has been active since HIV first arrived here, and continues to work in partnership with the community, health professionals and the Government to improve the quality of life for those affected.
I would like to give you a brief overview of the landscape at this point in time. HIV affects tens of millions of people around the world and people are still dying without the hope of clean water or access to effective, affordable treatments, mainly in developing countries. Our indigenous brothers and sisters are dying from preventable diseases and on average die 17 years younger than non-indigenous Australians. Papua New Guinea and other Pacific nations are on the brink of HIV epidemics and political turmoil around the world affects people’s lives and health dramatically.
In Australia we are lucky enough to have a robust health care system that can help stop people falling through the cracks. In my opinion, affordable, easy to access and a high class of health care is central to a functioning democracy and any threats to this humane system from within or abroad should be defended vehemently.
For the many thousands of Australians living with HIV, discrimination remains a sad reality. After more than 25 years of this epidemic and despite many improvements in treatments, HIV is still a chronic illness and living with it has many consequences.
It was over twenty years ago that the Federal Government, with the enormous efforts of dedicated activists and lobbyists, took decisive action and developed explicit and at times spooky education campaigns to inform the public of the health threat that HIV presented.
Some of the younger members of our audience may not remember this period and many were not even born, but without such a response I dare say we would be dealing with a far wider reaching crisis than we have today. One only need look to the USA to see how around 25 years ago a lackluster and delayed response from a judgmental and out of touch government affected the fight against HIV/AIDS in that country. The results of this inaction are glaringly obvious today.
It could be argued that the scare tactics of the Grim Reaper campaign all those years ago were heavy handed, but the campaign WAS effective and it got Australians listening to, and talking about things that may never have reached the public domain. This included the graphic and unapologetic description of sexual acts outside the hetero-normative repertoire!
I can vividly remember hearing the words HOMOSEXUAL and GAY (shock horror!); words rarely uttered in public and sporadically referred to in gutter journalistic poofter bashing or when reporting on pedophiles or other deviancy. That was the vogue in those days!
Homosexuals were not normal, or normalized. I wish I could say our media has fully grown up but unfortunately diverse representations of GLBTI and other minorities in our media is a rarity! If Carson Cressley form “Queer Eye” is our spokesperson then we are indeed in un-well times.
I remember also, for the first time, explicit sexual activities being discussed in sections of the mainstream public arena and condoms being promoted as a means of reducing the spread of the virus and other STI’s (regardless of what the Pope said!).
This not only educated people around HIV/AIDS but it helped to bring many GLBTI people out of the closet. Let’s not forget that in NSW it wasn’t until 1984 that homosexual sex was decriminalized and some other states and territories followed even later!
My story started a long time ago, before I was old enough to understand the concept’s of hate, cruel judgment and extreme zealotry. I always felt same sex attracted and in no way have I made a “lifestyle” choice about my sexuality, I was born this way and I have no regrets. Mind you, being bullied and treated like a second class citizen isn’t exactly a walk in the park but I’m STILL up for the challenge! Sexuality is not rigid but a complex mixture of varying shades. Inflexible labels and boxes do a disservice to the diversity of humanity.
It wasn’t until, as a late teenager, in the early 1980’s, after my high school years in Perth that I returned to my city of birth, Sydney. It was a time and place where I felt safe enough to explore the wider world and where I fitted. I was lucky enough to meet people from all walks of life and engaged myself in community work, culture, activism and a bit of anarchic squatting!
Around 1990, after training as a dancer in Adelaide I again returned to Sydney and even though I was not nearly as sexually active as many of my racy peers, and even though I practiced safe sex MOST of the time, I was unlucky enough to test positive to HIV. I can still remember the day the doctor told me and the horror I felt. It was a very sobering lesson in the capriciousness of the virus. It only takes one slip up for people to become infected.
Treatments were almost non-existent back then, and the one drug available was killing some people and not working for others. People were dying all around me, the obituary section in local lesbian and gay newspapers ran to several pages and I was told I wouldn’t have long to live.
On top of this fear the lack of information AND misinformation being peddled was alarming. Not a great way to start my 26th year on the planet!
So for 19 years with HIV, I have lived through the scary times and have made it through to see new advents in medicine and a finessing of treatment regimes for people living with HIV. Whilst we have access to some of the best (and most expensive) treatments not everyone with HIV responds well to these medications and people still get sick and die from the virus.
As we still surface from a decade or more under a divisive and homophobic coalition federal government I can see many areas that need special attention if we are to truly arrest the spread of HIV and other communicable diseases.
A holistic approach to treatment of disease along with a strong national commitment to education is required, starting from primary school. Conservative and morally antiquated approaches to sexual health education have no place in our diverse modern world and are arguably counterproductive. Rigid definitions of “family” are exclusive and dispiriting.
We also cannot expect a deregulated and self interested private media to solely inform the public on such crucial issues. Religion too, in all its forms should be welcomed but ignorant, disingenuous or inflammatory interventions from any religious group regarding education, sexuality and disease is not only inappropriate but in my opinion, potentially unconstitutional. We are living in the 21st Century after all, not the middle ages!
If it was not for the tireless efforts of community members, activists and lobbyists we may not have made the inroads that paved the way for current legislative and social reform in many human rights areas. However, I still subscribe to the potent aphorism “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”.
Unfortunately people around the world are still subjected to a wide range of human rights abuses and atrocities, particularly GLBTI. In Australia the federal government passively incites homophobia and confusion with its half baked recognition of same sex unions and it could be argued, is complicit in abuse by indifferently engaging with countries that have dire human rights records. Why I ask, is the sanctity of marriage so conditional and exclusive that not all are welcome?
HIV/AIDS may appear to have taken a back seat in Australia but people continue to become infected and those with the virus, even if they live a relatively normal healthy life, must endure a raft of discrimination and stigma.
Mental health issues, poverty, marginalization, bullying and violence still affect many people living with HIV – regardless of sexuality or how they came in to contact with the virus. Fear is often imbued with lack of knowledge, so go forth and learn as much as you can and remember that people living with HIV could be your brother, mother, sister, teacher, boss or wife.
I’d like to pay my respects to all those who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS and to the families and friends of these people, we are thinking of you.
I hope that with each new generation the climate of fear and ignorance around disease, sexuality and human diversity will dissipate and that one day we can all walk the streets, from Burnie to Karatha, from Townsville to Wodonga, with our heads high and our spirits free. For I believe each of us wants safety, respect, love and fulfillment in our lives and until that is guaranteed for ALL Australians we still have much work to do.
