ICOP - Edition 9

The 9th Edition .... of the International Carnival of the Pozitivities is hosted this month at Creampuff Revolution. [click Red Ribbon for link]

I'd like to feature Kristian's My Space blogpost. It's an open and poignant story about her own 20-year experience with living with HIV. It reminded me that those who look down upon or who fear people who struggle with this disease are in denial about the importance of keeping forgiveness and loving intention at the center of the fullness of our common humanity.

I couldn't make the father of my child leave my home dying from a disease and not care for him. His own relatives called me to say, make him leave, and I thought they were insane. All I knew was, he was sick, and he was my husband, and he was the father of my child. So he was staying, and we were going to learn whatever we needed to learn in order to deal with this.

But I had to be tested as well, and I tested positive. He looked as shocked as I was. I was a straight young mom having sex only within the confines of a marriage. That proved it was not hard to come in contact with someone who had been exposed for whatever reason. If it wasn't that he, himself, was in a high risk category, he could have been exposed to someone who was. It could have started anywhere. Being a member of this race, the human race, linked us all.

To add more news about HIV/AIDS, I have to say that I was astounded to learn that 2008 POTUS candidate John McCain drew a complete blank when asked if he supported the distribution of taxpayer-subsidized condoms in Africa to fight the transmission of H.I.V.


Gene defect leads to an AIDS drug - In 1996, scientists solved a mystery surrounding certain gay men who were immune to AIDS. This year, Pfizer Inc. will sell the first drug based on that discovery. The US and European researchers, writing in several science journals, said a small group of Caucasian gay men carry a gene mutation that provides natural protection against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Last week, culminating an 11-year race among three drugmakers, Pfizer released successful studies of a new pill [called Maraviroc] specifically designed to mimic the gene defect.
[A tip o'the hat to Rah Bourbon for the heads-up on this one.]