Wanna Fight About
It?
Dear
Friend and Ally,
This may be the angriest letter you
receive this holiday season. But after you read it, I’m sure
that your temperature will rise a few degrees too…
The Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health
Collective has had a problem since we first began in 1983.
The problem is the HIV/AIDS epidemic and we’ve been dealing with
it for 28 years. You, along with everyone on this planet have
co-existed with it for much longer. And frankly, we are sick and
tired of it.
We at the Hartford Gay & Lesbian
Health Collective were angry and upset to read a recent
study that reported an increase in HIV/AIDS in young gay men*.
But even more, we were filled with a profound feeling of
sadness. You, like I am, are probably asking yourself “How is
this still happening?” After thirty years, HIV/AIDS is still
a pervasive problem, especially in the MSM (men who have sex
with men) community. Since 1983, the Health Collective has
been responding to this epidemic in many ways; indeed, our
agency has become a well regarded place for people to get an HIV
test in a friendly, affirming and non-judgmental setting. No one
is ever turned away because they cannot afford to pay. We
provide counseling, education and support services in a
non-judgmental environment, becoming a place of refuge and hope
in this challenging health crisis. Even with all the incredible
drugs that have been developed and the long and fulfilling lives
that positive people are now able to lead, HIV/AIDS is a burden
that no one wants in their lives.
It makes me mad when I read that HIV is
still a major issue in the LGBT community. So I am asking for
YOUR help with this letter. You and I cannot find a safeguard
against HIV or find a cure for AIDS or deal with the global
crisis that is AIDS. But together WE can fight HIV/AIDS in
Hartford and in Connecticut through prevention and care
services. We need YOU to take part in the fight for OUR
community! Your partnership with the Hartford Gay &
Lesbian Health Collective will help to sustain our important
outreach and education programs targeting a wide range of MSM
men like Rainbow Room(teenagers), MPower CT (men in their
twenties and early thirties), ALASS (Hispanic men). Our outreach
in the community educates people about HIV/AIDS, engaging many
in this topic which touches all of us. Our programs work to
prevent new HIV infections and support those impacted by
HIV/AIDS. We help newly HIV-infected clients access important
medical care that will keep them living healthier with reduced
viral loads and develop prevention strategies with those clients
to help them prevent transmitting HIV to others. Designed with
our community in mind, these programs and services have had an
affirmative impact on the clients and people we have interacted
with. They work and you can keep them working. Consider yourself
challenged!
I know that you care as much about our
community as I do. Your involvement and contribution mean more
than ever. Our work in this epidemic is not over. But we are
determined to keep on fighting. I ask you to join me in the
battle against HIV/ AIDS in our community. I thank you for your
support and hope that the new year finds us that much closer to
victory.
Sincerely,
Linda Estabrook, MPH
Executive Director
* Increased HIV and Primary and Secondary
Syphilis Diagnoses Among Young Men—United States, 2004–2008
(JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes: 1
November 2011 - Volume 58 - Issue 3 - p 328–335)
