Gay Associated Youth

25+ years into this epidemic, and the next generation of young gays and lesbians are introduced to the community through participation in fundraising and volunteering to raise funds which support the association which is supposed to provide services for its clients who are infected with HIV, suffering from AIDS. A group of young people donating their time and effort to benefit a bunch of guys who are caught in a quagmire of guilt, shame and a short future.which they created through their chosen actions, with responsibility cast aside while they continued to operate in denial fully knowing what was going through our community. Now, funding being cut, depression on the daily menu, unsure of what to expect beyond unrealized death, we as a community do not provide great example to our next generation of homosexual-American youth with rising spread of HIV through our community despite more than 2 decades of walks and fund raisers.
Our community is shattered and separated, not bound by race or family ties. We are bound by an inherited sexual preference, one whose members do not necessarily show much respect to its family 'members' when the underlying connection is based on their next sexual conquest / encounter...Often an alcohol or drug fueled dazzle of extended high school,teenage drama behavior. No we don't show our next generation much respect. They were not even among us while we scraped our knees on the floors of bath houses across the land, fullfilling legacies of lust and debaucery to brag about, complain about when our eyes burn as we emerge from the dark halls into the stark morning light of day; another weekend marathon sexcapade...It is what homosexuals do.
Gay does not equal AIDS, Equality does not equal popularity...It is time for the homosexual-American to grow up, stand up and demand our equality. Not because of our sexual behavior difference but because of our human uniqueness and individuality.
It would be nice to know that those days described above are long gone, but they are not. The new drugs, the latest opportunity to operate in a way which is considered a 'rite',expanded through 24 hour chat rooms, we have a new round of denial and victims who lament like grand mothers over a game of Go Fish. This is not a homosexual-American community founded on, based on pride and confidence and accomplishment. We, as a community are in need of some healing, foregiveness of ourselves, of others for their tresspasses, and a willingness to be adults about the roles we play while we walk this earth still viewed as un-equal American citizens who deserve our full recognition.