doctor.
But Positive Nation has a public health remit. It's our
job to reach those people, and provide information in a form that doesn't
scare them off.
Yet gay men still make up two-thirds of the UK positive population. Many
have lived through illness, bereavement and drug toxicity into an era
where they feel sidelined, not just by the HIV establishment but by the
gay world too. We have to honour their struggle too.
This would be no problem if everyone with HIV thought: "We are all
in this together". Often, though, they don't.
One of our readers has questioned why she, a heterosexual women, was last
month sent the F***sheet insert. As a positive women, she didn't see that
gay men's dilemmas around safer sex were relevant to her.
The forthcoming report from Positive Futures reveals that people of Caribbean
background don't read Aids info for black people. They prefer to think
that Aids only affects Africans.
This issue deals with dance drugs. The last time we wrote a piece on drugs
- admittedly about the much 'harder end' of homeless heroin injectors
- several eyebrows were raised that we were talking to 'junkies'.
We do understand that everyone with HIV wants to see pieces that understand
their needs and point of view.
But them out there don't care much whether you're black, white, straight,
gay, male or female. They tend not to like people with HIV, full stop.
As a community we are too
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small and embattled for us to start despising each other.
