World AIDS Day. I won’t say “happy” because it isn’t for me. I get overwhelmed thinking about it. Thinking about the many lives lost, the deliberate lack of action. This is a somber day. A day of sadness and reflection. This is their day - ThreadSky

defn28.bsky.social • 131 days ago

World AIDS Day.
I won’t say “happy” because it isn’t for me. I get overwhelmed thinking about it. Thinking about the many lives lost, the deliberate lack of action. This is a somber day. A day of sadness and reflection.

This is their day

Comments

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

I haven't listened to "Live to Tell" since watching the concert and like last December 1st, it is very heavy-hearted. But then I remember these two gone but never forgotten and it helps with the melancholy feelings.

radiantshado.bsky.social•131 days ago

Thank you 🙏🏾

tinforest.bsky.social•131 days ago

Well said. ❤️

tippytoes.bsky.social•131 days ago

I read that for about a ten year period at its height the world lost around a million people per annum to AIDS. Compare the world response to that for Covid. Gay people, those dealing with addiction and the developing nations don’t matter as much it would seem. 😢

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

Let's put it this way, you go to the bar/pub and learn that a friend there, a bartender, waiter, dancer who was ok one day died the next. Memorials were held at the bars. Christmas in July events were done because many of us knew some wouldn't live til Christmas.

defn28.bsky.social•131 days ago

Just so awful. Such a terrible way to exist and witness within your own community.
My family AIDS story is horrific, but not in the way you’d think.
But it affected my aunty who was married to a closeted gay guy.
I’m just grateful he somehow managed to not give it to her.

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

I remember at the bars; the mothers were often the only person in the family who attended the memorials. One side they saw the love and support their son(s) received but also angry at the rest of the family and society for not being there for them.

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

Add to many nurses, doctors gave up on them and only a handful took care of them. A small group of nurses in a San Francisco hospital did just that and a documentary was made on them. It was a very scary time in the 80s into the early 2000s.

defn28.bsky.social•131 days ago

I think the recent ‘It’s a Sin’ that pretty much every gay in the UK watched and sobbed to, really brought the true grim reality of how our community was tragically failed by all authorities.
I’m just thankful people like Diana existed (albeit briefly) to smash stigmas

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

Yeah, it's so tough to go back and not only watch a VERY horrible time in history but also to feel scared, alone, almost like a time capsule before social media. Our bars and pubs were our resources of support. We survived but it left scars. Many.

defn28.bsky.social•131 days ago

People today need to understand just what our community is built on. We are often stronger than family and I know I’ve been there before many times and done my bit to protect and support my fellow gays facing difficulty. My old flat in Newcastle became something of a refuge at one point

jonz8o8.bsky.social•131 days ago

Nests! I loved those nests. I came out in 1992 but always remembered what it was like, so I did my best to be that welcoming sibling, the wise sage, and the one who told them it's ok to be you. I later found out decades from long time friends who told me I was one of the first people they met.

defn28.bsky.social•131 days ago

The fact WAD gets about as much coverage as Cilla Black does now, is testament to the how little attention and action it got and continues to get. Compare it to Remembrance or 9/11 etc

wtree4u.bsky.social•131 days ago

So true. Many have forgotten that over 25,000 men died before President Ronald Reagan and his administration even mentioned that people were dying. Such a sad time.