You call me ‘promiscuous,’ I call you ‘dishonest,’ a poly person tells the average person who believes that monogamy is the only natural way to love.
You call me ‘denialist,’ I call you ‘believer,’ a dissident person tells the average person who believes that HIV is the only cause of AIDS.
When you call AIDS Dissidents by their own name you exercise leadership in the sexual freedom movement.
Alternative lovestyle communities ignore AIDS Dissidence at their own peril.
From private conversations
Part Five
“Going back to New York with a more complete, more articulate explanation of your position, with a chance for pointed questions and responses, was your first thought,” I reminded G as we resumed the conversation after a pause.
“It sure was,” G confirmed. “I had a publicist who was doing bookings for me, and the first thing I asked her to do was contact Greensocks again and see if they’d book me for a reading there. I alerted her to the previous problem, to put out feelers and be cautious.”
“And what happened?”
“The person who does bookings and that store said they’d be happy to have me. We agreed on a date for the reading and it appeared on the store’s calendar for several weeks, during which I booked my flight and made other travel arrangements.”
“Oh, interesting. Were you looking forward to the reading there?”
“I was. I know that many people in the initial audience were more flabbergasted by how I was treated than by what I had read. I felt I must muster the courage to go there again.”
“Weren’t you afraid?”
“A bit. I was a bit ‘frobbly’ as we say in poly.”
“I can understand that.”
“Thank you.”
“How did it go?”
“It didn’t go.”
“What do you mean?”
“A couple of weeks before the reading we found a message in the email. It was copied to several persons involved in the planning of the event. It said that the reading would be cancelled because of ‘AIDS denialism,’ which the collective running the store considered ‘very dangerous’.”
“OMG! That must have felt terrible. How did you respond?”
“I remained quite self-possessed. I sought help in writing a clear, direct response. In it I rejected the accusation. I explained that if I was a ‘denialist’ then the discoverer of the so called ‘AIDS virus,’ now a Nobel Prize winner, was a ‘denialist’ as well, which put me in good company. I asked the collective to reconsider.”
Oxidation, Water, Food, and AIDS in Africa:
“Did they?”
“I don’t know that they gave my request any serious consideration. The difference between dissidence and denialism did not seem to register with them. In my response I had explained that dissidents see more complexity in AIDS than those in the conventional camp. Therefore, calling them ‘denialists’ was a misnomer because the word denial implies the opposite of complexity.”
“Makes sense. What did you do then?”
“Well, when Greensocks confirmed the cancellation, I realized I was banned in New York New Jersey New York
“You’re probably right there. How did you end up launching the book and what was the effect of these precedents?”
“I booked workshops in sex-positive community centers on the West Coast. I decided to give the book good exposure with a focus on its connection between the Gaian scientific paradigm that emphasizes symbiosis and the ways in which styles of love where amorous resources are shared are symbiotic, and therefore Gaian, as well. I gave presentations where I focused on these topics rather than the science studies research.”
“But G, were you deluded enough to think that the problem would just go away? That people would just buy the book and never read it and never raise objections?”
“No. I write books wishing to be read from cover to cover. That’s how I read books than make me passionate and from which I learn.”
“So?”
“So, I was hoping that at some point readers of a certain caliber would come along. I never doubted the quality of the book. It definitely is my best so far. It was written under a powerful inspiration and the publisher was the best I could hope for. It’s an alluring product, something people want to get when they see it.”
“And did these readers manifest?”
“Yes. The first was a gay man from the Southwest with a superior education who came out to me as HIV+ in a letter and repeatedly said that I was ‘RIGHT ON’ in everything I said about AIDS.”
“Woooow. That must have been something to you!”
“Yes. It made me cry. It was the best evidence that I had hit a right cord. I thought of all the suffering the ‘poz’ population endures: when they are not well because of illness, when they are well because of being looked upon as public perils. Potential criminals whose sexual desires are constructed as ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ one might say. These people have to walk the Earth in shame, embarrassed to be still around--instead of being celebrated as heroes and heroines of life for having being capable of healing themselves.”
“Now you’re getting a bit rhapsodic, G, as usual--your dramatic side.”
“Ok, ok.”
End of Part Five, G Tale # 5
Disclaimer: This Tale does not constitute medical advice in any way. Readers are invited to consult their own healers and health care providers.
References: For scholarly and scientific references to contents and theories referred to in this dialog, refer to Gaia & the New Politics of Love, whose bibliography lists all sources involved.
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