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[Dec. 1st, 2009|10:49 am] |
Today is World AIDs Day and I've been very, very lucky. I don't have AIDs and, partly because I'm so anti-social, only a few people I knew died of it. It has, however, transformed my world. It's changed the world for all of us.
I believe that AIDs and the 'net are the transformative events of my generation. For all Obama is, might have been, could be or was, his effects is minuscule compared to these two transformative events, the same for the Berlin wall, the collapse of Communist Russia, the Middle-East or all the other grand events, with the possible exception of global warming and the mass extinction we're in the middle of.
I believe that AIDs is pretty directly responsible for the current cycle of destabilization of Africa and that the consequences of it will continue to cripple that continent for generations. I also believe that AIDs set back sexual morality and affirmation, and that it has transformed sex and desire and our view of sex in sad and lasting ways. I also believe that AIDs crippled the 'men's movement' – to the point that there really isn't one, anymore.
If I could trade my life for AIDs never having existed, I'd do it without hesitation. I believe it's been one of the most destructive forces in a century.
One of the tragedies that I think is not often discussed, especially so many years after its beginning, is the loss of male mentors for men – particularly gay men. My partner mentions frequently that the men who died first and in largest numbers were the bravest of their time. The ones who were willing to step out of the closet, not ashamed of their sexuality and desires, the ones most willing to touch and be touched. That very courage killed them.
One of those men was Vito Russo . He died when he was forty-four years old, of AIDS.
He wrote the, Celluloid Closet a book that should be required reading for anyone interested in queer history, the presentation of queers in the media (and the way it has shaped public perceptions) and – as so many gay men became because they had no choice, a gay activist during the early, horrible years AIDS in the 80s. He was one of the co-founders of GLADD and active in ACT UP. He was a critical voice for gay men and queers in general.
My partner met Vito Russo and had a chance to speak with him. They ended up talking about classic monster movies (Frankenstein, the old Dracula movies etc) and how – as queer kids – they often identified with the monsters; isolated, outsiders, freaks and 'impure' and how those movies shaped and supported them through their growing up. My partner said, excited, that maybe that could be Vito's next book. The look he got in return was very tired and Vito Russo said: "Perhaps you'll be the one to write it" (paraphrased from memory).
Vito Russo died not long after. He should have had decades of life ahead, to teach, to write, to mentor younger gay men (and women and straight people and everyone), to live in the world and help change it. He didn't and we're all poorer for it. |
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| Fic: Russian Roulette |
[Nov. 22nd, 2009|01:43 pm] |
Title: Russian Roulette
Author: x-tricks
Fandom: Torchwood, Jack/Ianto
Notes: this is part of the fucked-up universe that Falling belongs to. People are very screwed up here and doing unhealthy things. This story follows Falling. It also fulfills the 'gun play' square on my kink_bingo card.
Disclaimer: These imaginary characters, performing fantasy acts, belong to legal entities and not me - I'm real. More or less.
( Russian Roulette ) |
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