Actual Reality, Act Up, Fight AIDS
Dec. 1st, 2006 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bohemian_markUnited Nations General Assembly, December 1, 1999
Ladies and gentlemen of the United Nations... I have to apologise first and foremost. I'm not a speaker, never have been. I spend my life behind the camera, not in front of a podium. So, if I sound rough, unpolished, or if I drop my notes and totally forget my speech, please forgive me. I also apologise in advance to the translators. I'm hard to understand in English, let alone Chinese. Or whatever language you all speak.
I was asked to come and speak today on the subject of AIDS and HIV infections. In preparing this speech, I've realized how hard it is to speak at length about something which is such a pervasive part of my life. How can I explain how deeply this disease has affected me, without sounding like a broken record or an old, dead film plot? Perhaps this, like any good film or plot, should start at the beginning.
Almost twenty years ago, a disease was discovered in Africa, unlike anything seen before. It attacked someone's immune system, killing them sometimes with a simple cold. As time went on, the disease spread, until today millions of people are living with it, and millions of people have died. Even today, with research and treatments which slow the spread of the virus, there is no cure, and in some ways, we are no closer to the cure.
What does this matter, some people ask? AIDS touches everyone, whether you realize it or not. It cannot be relegated as a 'gay man's disease' or just another problem in the poorer parts of the world. Most of the infected people across the world have become infected through no fault of their own, through a blood transfusion, birth, or a sexual partner who swears they're clean. A pandemic touches everyone, no matter economic status or sexuality.
I urge you, the leaders of the world to do something about this. Don't sit back and watch millions of people die. Go back to your countries, research this disease, come up with ideas, medicines, a cure. Above all, however, educate the people of the world to what's going on. AIDS is not something which should be pushed under the rug. People, beloved people are dying, while the world sits back, twiddles its thumbs and watches. To the people who are doing something, I thank you. Everyone touched by this disease thanks you.
So, let me finish with the words of one much smarter and more confident than I. Actual Reality: Act up, fight AIDS. Thank you all for your time.
Ladies and gentlemen of the United Nations... I have to apologise first and foremost. I'm not a speaker, never have been. I spend my life behind the camera, not in front of a podium. So, if I sound rough, unpolished, or if I drop my notes and totally forget my speech, please forgive me. I also apologise in advance to the translators. I'm hard to understand in English, let alone Chinese. Or whatever language you all speak.
I was asked to come and speak today on the subject of AIDS and HIV infections. In preparing this speech, I've realized how hard it is to speak at length about something which is such a pervasive part of my life. How can I explain how deeply this disease has affected me, without sounding like a broken record or an old, dead film plot? Perhaps this, like any good film or plot, should start at the beginning.
Almost twenty years ago, a disease was discovered in Africa, unlike anything seen before. It attacked someone's immune system, killing them sometimes with a simple cold. As time went on, the disease spread, until today millions of people are living with it, and millions of people have died. Even today, with research and treatments which slow the spread of the virus, there is no cure, and in some ways, we are no closer to the cure.
What does this matter, some people ask? AIDS touches everyone, whether you realize it or not. It cannot be relegated as a 'gay man's disease' or just another problem in the poorer parts of the world. Most of the infected people across the world have become infected through no fault of their own, through a blood transfusion, birth, or a sexual partner who swears they're clean. A pandemic touches everyone, no matter economic status or sexuality.
I urge you, the leaders of the world to do something about this. Don't sit back and watch millions of people die. Go back to your countries, research this disease, come up with ideas, medicines, a cure. Above all, however, educate the people of the world to what's going on. AIDS is not something which should be pushed under the rug. People, beloved people are dying, while the world sits back, twiddles its thumbs and watches. To the people who are doing something, I thank you. Everyone touched by this disease thanks you.
So, let me finish with the words of one much smarter and more confident than I. Actual Reality: Act up, fight AIDS. Thank you all for your time.
