Yesterday, Liz and I went to the Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF) for our volunteer interview, the first step in our service learning projects. We were there probably less than an hour and really did not do anything outside of the interviews, besides sit in the main lobby and fill out paperwork. However, it amazes me how much simply being in the location of an organization such as this can make you see things you have never seen before and can make you think about the society in which we live.
The mission statement of PCAF reads "Pierce County AIDS Foundation, through education and service, prevents HIV infection, assists persons affected by HIV/AIDS, addresses related health problems, and combats associated stigma and discrimination." Their website states that they have served 1,741 people with HIV/AIDS, 638 of whom have died (as of July 2007). One visible act that PCAF performs is the distribution of food bags on a weekly basis. Also, flyers advertised different classes and events available to individuals in order to either prevent oneself from being infected with HIV, infecting others with HIV, or dealing with the disease once transmission has occurred. While it is still unclear exactly what we will be doing at PCAF, I believe we will be playing a role in the planning process of Dining Out for Life, an event that will occur on April 30th in which restaurants from around the area will donate 25% of their proceeds to PCAF in order to fight towards the organization's many missions.
However, while all of the logistics of PCAF are important, I couldn't help but be struck by the individuals that were there, both those that were working there or those that were coming for assistance. Looking back, one of the main things that I noticed was that race was not really an issue - people who were white were coming for help, people who were black were coming for help, people who were hispanic were coming for help, etc. Some epidemiological statistics claim, and analytically it makes sense, that African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have been affected the most by HIV/AIDS and are at a greater risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS. However, I can't help but think that the reality of HIV/AIDS lies in the fact that it can cross these racial boundaries our society has constructed and in turn creates a situation in which every single person is at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and thus every person could potentially be subjected to the negative social effects that often follow infection, as well as the discrimination and oppression associated with merely being a carrier of the virus.
At the same time, Liz told me about a man that came in while I was in my interview and described himself as "gay and HIV positive." Why did he describe himself first as being homosexual? While it could mean nothing, I can't help but wonder why the stereotype against gay males and HIV/AIDS is still so strong. We know how it is transmitted and we know that a large number of people other than gay males have and pass on the disease. What has to happen in order for stereotypes like this to disappear?
What is the link you are making between his describing himself as "gay and HIV positive" and stereotypes? A stereotype is a rigid generalization. Are you thinking that he was stereotyping himself? Or did hearing "gay HIV positive" bring up in your own mind a whole set of expectations about what that means?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he was not reporting two of the most salient aspects of his identity - being gay and being HIV positive - just as I reported occupying the status positions white, pregnant, lesbian.
In any case, whatever the stereotypical image is concerning HIV positive gay men is, I am well aware that the reality defies stereotypes in many, many ways. This is a group that includes men of every race, as you noted, every class, in every part of the country, every education level, some who are healthy and others who are dying, some active, some politically and socially active... and so on.