First of all, and I know this isn't much because what are words in the face of the enormity of your loss, but I am so sorry.

I was just thinking about this yesterday - how when I was a kid in the 80s, the few TV shows/movies that tackled this subject always ended in tragedy. Because everyone died. That's the way it was back then. We hadn't made the progress we have with HIV.

It also regularly occurs to me how stigmatized this virus still is - I am not surprised by the apathy because we are still a homophobic nation and people see this as a "gay disease." I don't even know how to tackle the latter without somehow finding a way to achieve equality for LGBTQIA+. It shouldn't even be an issue, for god's sake, and yet here we are.

I also have been coming to understand, as I get older, and with the help of people who are sharing their experiences, like you, what a severe trauma gay men have been through in this lifetime. An unseen, unacknowledged trauma, which makes it all the worse. That, alone, I believe, has to be remedied. We have to acknowledge that as a society in a way that just has not been done yet.

Thank you for sharing this and everything you have shared. I have learned so much through your work.