Students recognize AIDS as local issue
In the 1980s, it was crudely referred to as “The Gay Plague.” Now, 30 years later, HIV/AIDS is known to transcend all gender, race and sexual orientation boundaries.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million Americans are HIV positive, and roughly 34 million people worldwide live with HIV or AIDS.
USU students were given the opportunity to confront HIV and AIDS issues this week by viewing the AIDS Memorial Quilt and screenings of the film “We Were There,” a film about the early AIDS crisis in San Francisco.
Wednesday, a community panel featuring Wayne and Sandra Schow discussed how the face of AIDS has changed in recent years.
Thursday evening, an interfaith candlelight vigil was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in memory of AIDS patients who have died.
While Utah still has relatively low numbers of reported HIV and AIDS cases, the disease’s devastating effects still impact some USU students.
“There was nothing that could have prepared me. I thought there was no way — no how — I could ever have HIV,” said Stewart Robinson — whose name has been changed for confidentiality — an out-of-state transfer student in his sophomore year at USU. He tested positive for HIV in 2008.
“I thought I was invincible. You know, like you do when you’re 17,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he visited his family physician after losing weight, experiencing night sweats, and experiencing fatigue for a few weeks. After two days of testing, he was diagnosed with HIV.
He said he’s been reluctant to talk about his illness at USU because of local public attitude toward HIV and AIDS.
“It has definitely been tough to make a go of it here in Logan,” Robinson said. “I mean come on — I’m gay, I have HIV — how much more taboo could I possibly get? But it shouldn’t be that way,” Robinson said. “Things need to, and will, change.”
Robinson said dealing with these health problems have made things difficult for him. Frequent visits to health care professionals, and many medications through the course of his lifetime, will cost more than an estimated $300,000.
Despite the high cost and the inconveniences, Robinson’s life expectancy is close to average for his demographic.
Health concerns are not what Robinson said trouble him the most at this point in his life, rather, it is his relationships that seem to suffer most at the hands of the virus.
“It’s such a delicate thing — getting to the point where you need to tell someone you love about this virus,” he said. “I’ve always tried to tell myself that if they are upset and our relationship changes, they were never worth it.
“On the other hand, if they are willing to carry on a relationship with me regardless of anything like that, they are definitely someone I want to keep around.”
In a perfect world, Robinson said, there would be no HIV.
“Beyond that, it shouldn’t matter,” he said. “The real deal here is that it does not matter what kind of virus you have or what color your skin is, or if you are gay or straight or anything at all. Everyone is a person, and everyone ought to be treated that way.”
With anti-viral medication and proper protection, he said the passing of HIV from one person to another becomes unlikely.
“And you can’t get it from kissing,” Robinson said, quick to clarify.
To promote awareness and acceptance, as well as to serve as a memorial to those whose lives have been claimed by HIV or AIDS, pieces of the AIDS Memorial Quilt were on display in the TSC Ballroom this week.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a large, multi-paneled patchwork quilt created by families and friends of deceased AIDS patients. The quilt is housed and cared for by The NAMES Project Foundation, headquartered in Atlanta.
Sara Jordan, a graduate instructor in the English department, chaired the committee to bring the quilt to Logan.
“I think sometimes students here feel somewhat disconnected,” Jordan said. “But if you start digging a little bit you’ll find there are not that many degrees of separation.”
She hypothesized that most students know someone who has been effected by HIV or AIDS.
Jordan said her desire to create more acceptance and awareness came from her life experiences, and the dedication of a few USU students.
“Last year at World AIDS Day I saw only one small student group … carrying the weight of the AIDS epidemic,” Jordan said. “How fair is that? I think to the rest of us it says we’re off the hook, and that’s not right.”
Jordan went to work with friends from USU and the Cache Valley community. The response, she said, was just what they needed.
“We didn’t really know what direction this was all going to take, whether it would be community based or campus based, and the university really came through for us,” Jordan said. “Their support has been overwhelming.”
In order to display the quilt, many specifications had to be met. These included proper lighting, food and drink restrictions, and proper hanging and display methods. Volunteers assisting with the quilt were trained in how to handle the quilt with the utmost respect, she said.
“There is always the memory that these are one of a kind,” Jordan said. “These are individual lives we are talking about, so all these rules and polices are focused around respecting them.”
Kennedy Tripp, USU advocate officer of the campus gay-straight alliance LIFE (Love is for Everyone), was a student representative on the AIDS Memorial Quilt committee. Tripp said he was sure volunteers were properly trained to handle and monitor the quilt.
Tripp said the quilt was “a very non-abrasive way for people to walk around and think about this and work through their feelings at their own pace and on their own time.”
As positive as it may be, Tripp said he still has concerns about local attitudes toward HIV and AIDS.
“I think at Utah State we get a lot of support in word, not necessarily in action,” Tripp said. “I think we are at a point at Utah State where things need to change.”
Tripp said his concerns include seemingly small student and faculty turnouts at important activities such as Kate Kendall’s speech at USU and even the AIDS Memorial Quilt display.
Awareness, prevention and acceptance still remain the goal of World AIDS Day according to event organizers.
“While HIV is not the most common, it is definitely the scariest and most life-altering sexually transmitted disease,” Tripp said.
Testing, treatment and safe-sex practices are imperative to contain and stop the spread of HIV, Robinson said. Robinson, Tripp and Jordan all said sexually active students need to be tested for HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases on a regular basis.
The Student Health and Wellness Center offers HIV and AIDS tests for $22. Results are generally available within 24 hours.
– ross.nelson@aggimail.usu.edu