Maybe this is old news - I don’t know. It was new to me. Over Thanksgiving, a friend showed this to me … so I thought I would pass it on to you.
I’ve never been a fan of censorship … especially in this day and age … so if you’re like me - maybe you’ll enjoy this.
What if I told you there was a horrible disease that a large number of people had. What if I told you that there was no cure for this disease - but there are ways to treat it. There are several medications available that will not cure this disease - but they will allow those taking it to live longer, healthier, more productive lives.
What if I told you that many people can not afford these life-saving medications because they can’t afford insurance, are too sick to work, or just don’t make enough money. These medications are not cheap.
What if I told you that there was a system the government set up to help low income, disabled, non-insured, or under-insured people and help them afford medical treatments? But, not everyone who needs it is getting it.
What if I told you people were dying, waiting for the drugs that will treat their condition. Why? Because they’re on a waiting list. And, what if I told you that the government just couldn’t afford to get those medications to everyone who needs it. Or, maybe they just don’t want to…
You might think that those kinds of things just don’t happen here in the good old USA. We take care of our citizens who are in need … there are welfare programs … Medicare and Medicaid … Social Security … Disability … so that couldn’t happen here … right?
Wrong.
The disease is AIDS - and this is happening in the United States. South Carolina, to be exact. Six other states too.
The AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP) was set up to help those who did not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid and had no other way of affording their HIV or AIDS Medications.
Unfortunately - recently the number of people needing assistance has grown quickly - and many people living with AIDS are either going without treatment or getting inadequate care. The system set up to help them is failing them. And, there is nothing they can do - they’re on the waiting list.
Three people on one of those waiting list just died in South Carolina.
They held a vigil in South Carolina yesterday (November 20th) calling attention to the fact that this situation needs to be taken care of - and SOON!
You can support the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) … and also find out more information about this on their website.
Go ahead. Light a virtual candle. It’s free to do so. For every virtual candle lit - a dollar gets donated to the National AIDS Fund.
From now until World AIDS Day on December 1st, for every virtual candle lit, the National AIDS Fund will recieve a dollar from Bristol-Meyers Squibb. You can also donate something yourself to the NAF through the virtual candle website.
Go light a virtual candle now! And be sure to Tell Your Friends!
Actor Neil Patrick Harris told People Magazine this week that he is “proud” to be a gay man.
The actor, who is currently playing Barney on NBC’s How I Met Your Mother, might be better known as the infamous Doogie Houser, MD.
Harris says that there has been some recent speculation about his sexual orientation and chose to dispel any rumors publicly.
Kind of makes you wonder was exactly was going on in that Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle movie, hunh?
Anyhow…
It seems like … as more and more celebrities come out of the closet … it’s starting to lose its impact. Sure … there was a time, not all that long ago, that coming out as a gay man in hollywood reduced your chances of ever getting a job again.
After all … look what happened a few years ago when Ellen DeGeneres’ character came out in prime time…
So, yeah, we’ve come a long way.
In July, when Lance Bass came out - I posted some thoughts about the serious lack of role models for gays and lesbians. I still think that’s just as true today as it was back then. Especially in light of things like the Mark Foley scandal or the Reverend Haggard thing. And it’s times like these that I start to realize we haven’t come nearly as far as we thought we had.
At first, I wasn’t wanting to post on the Reverend Ted Haggard thing … what more is there to say? Rev. Ted Haggard went to see a gay male prostitute for a “massage”. He bought some methamphetamine while he was there. He got caught … oops. So now, he admits to buying drugs but he didn’t have sex with that guy.
Why does this ALMOST sound familiar? Oh, yeah … almost sounds like Bill Clinton. Smoked dope but didn’t inhale and oh, yeah, he didn’t have sex with that woman. Yep. Sounds close. But, no cigar.
What could I possibly add to this?
But, then this morning, I was watching the Sunday Morning News and they featured a major story on this guy. The news segment this morning told the story of how the Evangelical Minister had been forced to resign and lose his position at his Church. But then they continued to show the reaction of several members of his congregation who wanted to stand behind him (no puns, please) and support him through all this.
One gentleman even started talking about how a Church is more than just a building - it’s a “family” and “families” stick together in times of crisis.
My inner child really wanted to start throwing a temper tantrum. Throughout my entire life, I’ve heard (from Evangelicals, and to be fair, others too) about how doing drugs will mess up your life and make you go to Hell. But, at least through a lifetime membership in a 12-Step Program, you can be saved as long as you admit you’re powerless over drugs and make a decision to turn your life back over to God. But, if you’re gay … forget it. All bets are off. You’re a bad person. You will always be a bad person.
Heck - look at how Pat Robertson likes to blame the gays and lesbians for everything from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina. Yeah, I know … a lot of evangelicals don’t support those views, and yet they keep supporting him. Go figure…
And you wonder why I don’t give my inner child his own blog?
After working hard to shut my inner child up - my inner adult wanted to throw his own two cents in.
Seeing those people rally behind Reverend Ted really got me thinking. Here’s a guy they all trusted. Here’s a guy they all turned to for advise on moral and ethical issues. Here’s a guy they accepted and welcomed with everything they had…
He goes out and buys Meth during a “massage” from a “gay escort” …
He says he didn’t engage in sexual relations, but I think that’s a bit hard to believe. If you want a legitimate massage, you go to a licenced and-or certified masseur … someone who has had training in massage. If you want to get your rocks off while you get touched, you call an escort. Normally, I would think everyone would know this, but…
Maybe those standing behind Haggard are starting to realize that homosexuality isn’t necessairily as evil as they previously thought, and maybe the evangelical paradigm is starting to shift … just a little.
Or, maybe not. We’ll see.
After a Minneapolis Bus Driver complained about a gay-themed advertisement on a bus she was driving, she asked to be allowed to drive another bus because the ad offended her religious values. The transit authorities considered this to be a reasonable accommodation to her religious beliefs.
I read about this story shortly after I read about the Minneapolis Cab Drivers who, because of their Muslim beliefs, were refusing to pick up passengers carrying alcohol.
And these aren’t the only examples of people who are supposed to deal with the public in general but refuse to do something because of their religious beliefs. From time to time we hear about others too: pharmacists who refuse to fill certain prescriptions because of religious objections (such as the birth control pill) … or, how about doctors who refuse medical treatments because of religious objections?
I just wonder if things are being pushed too far?
When it comes to the Minneapolis bus driver - according to the Amalgamated Transit Unit Local 1005 - bus drivers have never been excused from driving buses with ads that they object to for religious reasons, including political based messages and endorsements of political candidates.
So, then why start precedent with gay-themed ads?
Legally speaking, most businesses must accommodate its employees religious beliefs unless it brings undue business hardship. However, once you start drawing lines between what diverse groups of people find appropriate or inappropriate, someone is surely guaranteed to feel left uncomfortable or worse. By letting drivers refuse to drive buses with pro-gay ads on them, homosexual employees are left feeling uncomfortable and rejected. And yet, both religion and sexual orientation are supposedly protected by the company’s policies.
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that if you deal with the public, you may just have to interact with people you normally wouldn’t associate with or look at things you’d rather not see. If you do not like to deal with people who are different than you - then maybe getting a job in the public sector isn’t such a bright idea. “The Public” is made up of a wide mixture of people from various political lines of thoughts to religions to sexual orientation to national origins to skin color … and if you would rather not deal with the public - it should be up to you to find a career or job more suited to you.
While this may be a minor blip on the radar - it concerns me because I wonder what could happen next?
When it comes to medical care, doctors take the Hippocratic Oath which states, amongst other things, that they heal their patients to the best of their ability and not deliberately cause anyone harm. When it comes to times of war, battlefield doctors (remember that old show, MASH?) tend to overlook who’se side of the conflict someone was fighting for - and they’re labelled heroes because they healed the sick, even if they were the enemy. But, when it comes to treating someone who has a disease like AIDS, can a doctor refuse treatment because he has a religious objection to the type of person she or he is healing?
I must have forgotten about that part of the Hippocratic Oath where it states it’s ok to refuse medical treatment to someone who needed it just because you disagree with his lifestyle, political views, or sexual orientation.
And in those cases of rape or incest where a woman may want to choose to terminate pregnancy? Or, in times when pregnancy endangers the life of the mother - how do you legislate the idea that one person’s life is worth more than anyone else’s? And why wouldn’t that be unethical?
Or, what if I turned it all around.
What if I refused you when you needed it because I had religious objections to your religious views?
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