Hillary elaborates: "I’ve heard from countless people who were...hurt & disappointed by what I said
Ruby Cramer ?@rubycramer 5h5 hours ago Youngstown, OH"To be clear, the Reagans did not start a national conversation about HIV and AIDS." -- Hillary Clinton https://medium.com/@HillaryClinton/on-the-fight-against-hiv-and-aids-and-on-the-people-who-really-started-the-conversation-7b9fc00e6ed8#.l357nm8jd …
Hillary on the fight against HIV and AIDS—and on the people who really started the conversation.
Yesterday, at Nancy Reagan’s funeral, I said something inaccurate when speaking about the Reagans’ record on HIV and AIDS. Since then, I’ve heard from countless people who were devastated by the loss of friends and loved ones, and hurt and disappointed by what I said. As someone who has also lost friends and loved ones to AIDS, I understand why. I made a mistake, plain and simple.
I want to use this opportunity to talk not only about where we’ve come from, but where we must go in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
To be clear, the Reagans did not start a national conversation about HIV and AIDS. That distinction belongs to generations of brave lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, along with straight allies, who started not just a conversation but a movement that continues to this day.
The AIDS crisis in America began as a quiet, deadly epidemic. Because of discrimination and disregard, it remained that way for far too long. When many in positions of power turned a blind eye, it was groups like ACT UP, Gay Men’s Health Crisis and others that came forward to shatter the silence — because as they reminded us again and again, Silence = Death. They organized and marched, held die-ins on the steps of city halls and vigils in the streets. They fought alongside a few courageous voices in Washington, like U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, who spoke out from the floor of Congress.
Then there were all the people whose names we don’t often hear today — the unsung heroes who fought on the front lines of the crisis, from hospital wards and bedsides, some with their last breath. Slowly, too slowly, ignorance was crowded out by information. People who had once closed their eyes opened their hearts.
If not for those advocates, activists, and ordinary, heroic people, we would not be where we are in preventing and treating HIV and AIDS. Their courage — and their refusal to accept silence as the status quo — saved lives.
We’ve come a long way. But we still have work to do to eradicate this disease for good and to erase the stigma that is an echo of a shameful and painful period in our country’s history.
This issue matters to me deeply. And I’ve always tried to do my part in the fight against this disease, and the stigma and pain that accompanies it. At the 1992 Democratic National Convention, when my husband accepted the nomination for president, we marked a break with the past by having two HIV-positive speakers — the first time that ever happened at a national convention. As First Lady, I brought together world leaders to strategize and coordinate efforts to take on HIV and AIDS around the world. In the Senate, I put forward legislation to expand global AIDS research and assistance and to increase prevention and education, and I proudly voted for the creation of PEPFAR and to defend and protect the Ryan White Act. And as secretary of state, I launched a campaign to usher in an AIDS-free generation through prevention and treatment, targeting the populations at greatest risk of contracting HIV.
The AIDS crisis looks very different today. There are more options for treatment and prevention than ever before. More people with HIV are leading full and happy lives. But HIV and AIDS are still with us. They continue to disproportionately impact communities of color, transgender people, young people and gay and bisexual men. There are still 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States today, with about 50,000 people newly diagnosed each year. In Sub-Saharan Africa, almost 60 percent of people with HIV are women and girls. Even though the tools exist to end this epidemic once and for all, there are still far too many people dying today.
That is absolutely inexcusable.
I believe there’s even more we can — and must — do together. For starters, let’s continue to increase HIV and AIDS research and invest in the promising innovations that research is producing. Medications like PrEP are proving effective in preventing HIV infection; we should expand access to that drug for everyone, including at-risk populations. We should call on Republican governors to put people’s health and well-being ahead of politics and extend Medicaid, which would provide health care to those with HIV and AIDS.
We should call on states to reform outdated and stigmatizing HIV criminalization laws. We should increase global funding for HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. And we should cap out-of-pocket expenses and drug costs—and hold companies like Turing and Valeant accountable when they attempt to gouge patients by jacking up the price of lifesaving medications.
We’re still surrounded by memories of loved ones lost and lives cut short. But we’re also surrounded by survivors who are fighting harder than ever. We owe it to them and to future generations to continue that fight together. For the first time, an AIDS-free generation is in sight. As president, I promise you that I will not let up until we reach that goal. We will not leave anyone behind.
https://medium.com/@HillaryClinton/on-the-fight-against-hiv-and-aids-and-on-the-people-who-really-started-the-conversation-7b9fc00e6ed8#.uvfbqit3i
= new reply since forum marked as read
Why did she say what she said? Her comments were the opposite of the truth. Why did she say them?
Quick . . . duck . . . incoming!
To begin with: the me-too tone. "I lost friends too" - yeah but you still looked at gay people as inherently inferior to yourself until 2013, Hillary. "I lost friends too" gave you as much insight into the plight of the LGBT community as George W. Bush had when, as a Texas politician, he assured a gay assemblyman that "I have gay friends too, so this is nothing against you personally".
No denouncing of the Reagan's role in the AIDS dialogue ("just let those queers die out"
, only the admission that "they don't deserve the distinction of having started the conversation". They were just a few of "MANY in power who turned a blind eye". Hey, anyone did it right? (Were you, Little Mrs Me-Too? If so, how about a full admission that you were wrong at the time, and explain what - belatedly - made you change your outdated views?)
We "continue a fight together" - by shifting attetion away from the way the LGBT community was effected (which the Clintons did very little to help) to Sub-Saharan Africa (where there are way more infected heteros and way more homophobes, so of course the Clintons are helping).
"This issue matters to me deeply" - hence my praise for the bitch who wanted to let the gay cancer work its genocidal magic. It's a mistake any true ally of the LGBT community could have made, right? I'm sure Bernie made some mistake too. Please someone try to be hurt by something Bernie actually said!
"If not for those advocates, activists, and ordinary, heroic people, we would not be where we are in preventing and treating HIV and AIDS. Their courage — and their refusal to accept silence as the status quo — saved lives." - So please vote for me: the status quo candidate par excellence! Let me be silent while you do the talking and the work.
"Slowly, too slowly, ignorance was crowded out by information. People who had once closed their eyes opened their hearts." - Except for me me me, because I was busy pandering to Reagan Democrats or whatever those aging DINO homophobes are called these days.
"Silence = Death" - I know that, which is why I acted as a hagiographer for the woman who deadpanned the conversation AIDS victims were desperate to start.
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Mrs Clinton, if I may give you some well-meant advice:
This stupid and over-the-top hurtful offense of yours has ripped open all the old wounds. DOMA DADT, "marriage is a sacred bond between man and woman", the whole record of vile bile you have campaigned on until 2013.
Halfheartedly admitting that the Reagan's do not deserve the distinction of starting the conversation on AIDS is hardly going to cut it, nor the "I have gay friends too / lost someone too".
If you want to reassure the LGBT community, you must understand that reputations come by foot, leave by horse, and return on their knees.
What little reputation you had ( "she will get things done" sped away on a derby-winning stallion yesterday. (Or was it a unicorn? Anyway, it's miles over the horizon now, and still accellerating. Because all those old wounds were ripped open too, you see?
If you care to win back your reputation, instead of taking gay votes for granted or writing them off like the millennials, consider this:
Make a speach with the core message: "I was wrong. Now I know better."
Make a speach where you denounce DADT as utterly wrong. Say how you have learned better.
Make a speach where you denounce DOMA. Just say Bill was wrong to sign it and wrong to campaign on it. He threw the gays under the bus; you must throw him under the bus. Gently, if you want to, but you must denounce his 1996 actions. Then you must say how wrong you were to support him in those actions, and what made you see the error of your ways.
Move on to marriage equality. Say why you were wrong to denounce it as recently as 2010, tell us what was your moment of epiphany, or when the first doubts started emerging in your mind, or whatever the process was that reshaped you bigoted mind into something palatable to the modern voter. You can even weave in some great feel-good story about your joy in 2015 when the gays won th right to marry in all of the USA. I mean, according to your twitter account you were overjoyed, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to remember how momentous that moment was for you personally?
Get that all into one speach. "I was wrong; now I know better."
And then say how dreadfully sorry you were for that offensive remark. Denounce the Reagans. I'm sorry, but you'll have to throw that ugly-hearted gay-hater Nancy under the bus too. Denounce her silence.
And as for yourself, Mrs Clinton: don't just make some noise. Make sense.
Regards,
A very angry Betty.
"Berniebros on twitter; are they performing an important public service by sinking the Sanders campaign? ...or are they a serious enough problem to warrant finally getting rid of the first amendment entirely"?
