Guest Author - Barbara Sharpe

World AIDS Day is December 1. What is your community doing to mark the day?
In my city, we are doing an art contest called “You Can’t Get it From Kissing: The Stigma IS the Story.” Information on the contest can be found at the local HIV/AIDS service organization’s website, which will be at the end of this article. The contest is open to anyone, but if you’re from out of the area, you’ll have to arrange to get it here. If you're interested, there is a link to the Call for Artist Submissions below.

Because my city has a monthly Art Hop that is well attended but not on 12/1, we are actually having our World AIDS Day event on December 5. It will give us a lot more exposure since the local art council has donated its space for our show.

We chose the topic because, in an age when HIV information is readily available, people do not often avail themselves of it. At my ASO (AIDS Service Organization), clients tell us all kinds of stories about what it’s like to live with HIV. Stories that will shock you, sadden you, and that you won’t be able to believe.

Jane can’t play with her grandchildren because her daughter-in-law is afraid the children will get AIDS. Michael’s family has only certain dishes and utensils that he’s allowed to use, so that no one will get AIDS. Clara would really like to be married but men are scared off when she discloses her HIV status. Mark sits in church on Sundays and hears his minister denounce all people who have HIV as “sinners” and “on the way to hell.” He’d like to find comfort in his faith but it’s hard when those sermons are so frequent.
Stigma is pervasive and it affects not only the lives of the people who have HIV but all those who have incorrect information and who hold prejudices. Art bridges gulfs between people. Art bridges that gap of ignorance. We are asking artists to use their art to tell the story.

All of us can do something, though, even if we’re not artists. We can speak up and tell people that you can’t get HIV from kissing, or sharing dishes. We can tell our pastors and priests that once a person is infected, no amount of preaching is going to get them uninfected. We can ask them to add some talk about compassion to their sermons. Especially so in Christian churches, since Jesus was all about love. I sometimes think that people with HIV are the “lepers” of our day and Jesus spent time with them. They, too, were thought to have “brought in on themselves” and gotten sick because of sin.

What can you do to help people understand the stigma?