"
Right now there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country waiting for organs. Most of them will die before they get them. Many of them will die after they have been put on a waiting list."
- Larry Kramer,
actor/writer/producer/author & veteran esteemed activist, has survived nearly 12 months since
his liver transplant last December. [BTW, that's how long he said he needed to finish his mighty tome-in-progress,
'The American People']. The founder of
Gay Men's Health Crisis,
ACT-UP and other community action groups needed the operation due to a
co-infection with Hepatitis B Virus, a situation which is becoming increasingly common now that long-term survival rates for HIV+ folks improve, and other viruses have more deadly effects. Naturally,
the coming crisis in organ transplants leads the ultra-activist to a new, personal but less formal protest: a campaign for
presumed consent.
"In a previous interview Kramer also remarked that he did not feel welcomed or wanted at Mt Sinai. Other issues such as homophobia, AIDS-phobia and ethical concerns about "wasting good organs on HIV positive patients," or the fear that donors might stop giving organs if they find out PWAs are receiving them, have all influenced and slowed HIV positive transplant progress." In a recent New York Times interview, Dr. Fung (Kramer's surgeon)stated that "
homophobia has been one of the problems in moving HIV positive organ transplants forward. Such homophobia is veiled, and never openly admitted."
Kramer's liver transplant "has cost Medicare, so far, over $500,000 and Empire Blue Cross, so far, over $100,000 for the continuing medications I must take, including a monthly pop of some $10,000 for something called Hepatitis B Immune Globulin, which I believe I must receive for the rest of my life. And you need to get your blood tested every few weeks. That costs a lot too." How many HIV+ folks in the US - let alone globally - can afford that?
posted by dash_slot-
on Dec 1, 2002 -
3 comments
Is this astoundingly bad timing or what? Big Brothers/Big Sisters "will require that all 500 of its local affiliates include active homosexuals as volunteers and mentors to children", according to this article.
On a side note, why hasn't this been widely reported?
posted by kablam
on Jul 18, 2002 -
176 comments
Let him stay. Spend just one hour with the Loftons to understand why Florida's ban on gay adoption is wrong. This couple has taken in several HIV positive kids, but now that 14-year-old Bert, whom they have raised since infancy, tests HIV negative, the state of Florida considers him "adoptable" and is trying to find him a "suitable" (read
heterosexual) adoptive family. Interested parties can
send a letter to Florida officials in protest.
posted by whatnot
on Mar 14, 2002 -
46 comments
Is The Advocate making too much of "the openly gay" Ian McKellen playing Gandalf? "An openly gay man has been invited to play the lead role in the fantasy lives of the world’s children, for decades to come. What’s more heroic than that?" Or, as Armistead Maupin puts it: "I think the fact that an openly gay actor is going to have his face all over Burger King cups in a matter of months is really quite significant.”
As an interesting contrast,
here's McKellen, from his own website, on a certain Kenobi who felt that "It was not appropriate...for gay people to talk publicly about their sexuality nor to campaign openly for law reform."
posted by adrober
on Dec 6, 2001 -
26 comments
pink pistols "Thirty-one states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "
posted by riley370
on Jun 12, 2001 -
36 comments
Bob Jones 2? Mr.
DUI makes another misstep. Regardless of the outcome, the past 24 hours have been satisfying for Democrats
posted by owillis
on Nov 2, 2000 -
0 comments
Homophobic decision in my home state is to be appealled. Requests to change one's name are very rarely denied. This judge has really stepped over the line by worrying about "the appearance of [the requester] being married. . . [and] . . . how this would appear to our neighbors, to our shopkeepers and to society at large."
posted by fpatrick
on Sep 22, 2000 -
4 comments
Letter to "Dr." Laura since laura schlessinger can make biblical pronouncements on gays and lesbians, perhaps she can clear these things up as well. [and i refuse to call her doctor seeing as how she doesn't have a medical licence. but that's another discussion...]
posted by raedyn
on Aug 28, 2000 -
36 comments
Boy Scouts: 1 Gay Memebers: 0 Court Says Boy Scouts Can Bar Gays, which is slightly troubling, in that a psuedo-national organization can make rules that go against government policy. I don't see how a scoutmaster being gay has anything to do with teaching kids how to tie knots and go camping though.
posted by mathowie
on Jun 28, 2000 -
52 comments
queer by choice: "this web site exists in order to promote, condone, encourage and recruit individuals to explore their homosexuality. it is a site dedicated to thoughts and ideas not available in the mainstream of current thinking on homosexuality."
posted by palegirl
on May 25, 2000 -
11 comments
Another Penatagon report indicates that there is no forseeable relief for gays in the military? When 85% of respondents (of the 71,500 U.S. military service personnel polled worldwide) state that they believe that anti-gay words and behavior is tolerated and 80% claim that they've heard an offensive remark (in the ranks) about homosexuals in the past year, is another onslaught of talking heads and pointless summits the answer? will it take another barry winchell to shake this administration into real action?
posted by jburr
on Mar 25, 2000 -
6 comments
