Dec 2, 2012

[Technicolor Musings] Celebrating the Fight Against Intolerance

Every year, December 1 is celebrated as World AIDS Day, an important time to remember the continued fight against the spread of both the virus and the intolerance that naturally comes with it. At least that's the way things are now - with a lot of work and continued effort, we all look forward to the day that we bring the number of new HIV infections to zero and when people stop alienating people who have the virus.

At the same time, December is also a time when Filipinos - at least those in Metro Manila - take time to celebrate LGBT Pride with the annual Metro Manila Pride March.

It's interesting to note how both the fight against AIDS and the fight for LGBT rights have many similarities. Both are things (or perhaps states of being?) that are often met with a certain degree of ridicule and definitely intolerance born of ignorance. Naturally because of its prevalence, there is the inevitably thinking that one follows the other (and which comes first doesn't even matter at times). Too many people think that gay people are worth condemning and thus "deserve" to contact HIV / AIDS. Or some believe that people who have HIV / AIDS did something "wrong" to again somehow "deserve" infection.

But both being gay and living with HIV are not things to be ashamed of nor should these be things that we have to hide. They simply are what they are and until we as a society learn to treat it as such, then we'll never really get to where we need to be in terms of equal rights and true acceptance as a race. Until we can put aside these petty disagreements for those who are different from us, then we'll never mature as a people - or even as a species.

So take this month as a good time to remember the struggles that both these groups of people face every day. Take time to remember that gay pride is more than just a street party and HIV awareness and advocacy is more than taking an HIV test just once in your life. It is about changing the way you think and essentially changing the way we live our lives.
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2 comments:

  1. the Metro Manila Pride March is a good way to promote LGBT rights and equality for all gender. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Certainly. We hope to get more and more people to support the March tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete