13 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
OutBoisemag.com | Issue 14 | January 2016
World AIDS Day: A Perspective
By Nelson Bray
Being a newcomer to Boise has been culture shock
enough. I am a native of South Florida and this is my
first adventure living outside of my homeland. Boise has
been a wonderful substitution for the place where my
heart is.
With all of the fake tans, fake people, and fake friendships Florida has to offer, I can honestly say volunteering or “do-gooding” of any kind was far beyond my
minds grasp.
The friendly nature, spiritual energy, and the monolithic embrace of the mountains has awakened a part of
me that I have eagerly hit the ground running with. This
has resulted in A.L.P.H.A. (The Alliance for the Prevention of HIV and AIDS) gaining their newest “workhorse.”
It has enlightened my spirit and renewed my sense of
humanity.
Being a part of the A.L.P.H.A. family prompted me
to attend my first candlelight vigil for World AIDS Day
which was held on the steps of the Capitol building on
December 1st. For those who don’t know, it is a gathering for the memory of those who have lost their lives
and for those living with HIV and AIDS. I know several
people living with the virus, and I even have a couple
exes that are positive, but I have not known anyone
personally that has died from the disease, so really,
why would I need to go? (Or so my thought process had
been.) The reason, I now know, is to not only mourn but
to celebrate the lives of the survivors and embrace them
as a part of our community, not to shun, alienate, or
leper-dize those with this horrible disease.
Embracing those with HIV was manifested there on
the steps of the Capitol with the presence of all of us
enduring the cold as we listened to those who spoke
and told their stories. I realized from this event that we
as a gay culture should really be embracing ourselves
as a whole. A whole community made up of Twinks, and
Queers, and Fags, and Drag Queens, and Lesbians, and
those that are Butch and Fem and Trans and Bi, whether
we have HIV or AIDS or ADD or Leukemia. We are all
from the same cloth and we share our unique sexual
preference so why are we shunning anybody at all?