Say What I Will

Lately, I disagree and make fun of Andrew Sullivan a lot, mostly because I think he whines about foreign policy.

But the guy is a great writer, and that to me, will keep me going back to his blog. That, if it isn't clear, is one of the highest compliments I can give someone.

He talks a lot about gay issues as well, and periodically delves into a personal discussion about his generation of gay men, the generation cursed with AIDS.

I, of course, was young when AIDS first became big news and was raised open-minded enough to know it wasn't a gay disease, nor anything to be ashamed of, but simply a horrible human health issue that we should all rightly fear.

But truthfully, I've never thought too much about it because frankly, I don't know anyone whose suffered from AIDs or HIV. But when Sullivan talks about it, I understand what a horrific thing this was for a rather small community of men. This was a community forced together in large cities because there wasn't a place for gay people in small towns around the world. We all have our little communities, and these communities are vital to our human experience. I can't imagine my own personal community having to go through something like the early spread of the AIDS virus. Imagine what - a third, half, some really high percentage of your friends, your peers, all the people you know and love, walking around with this disease for which there is no cure.

Thankfully, awareness grew, and later generations of gays and straights haven't suffered as much. But there remains that generation, the city dwelling, out of the closet, gay men in early 80s, a generation cursed.