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Communities, Businesses and Individuals Come Together to Observe World AIDS Day
In honor of World AIDS Day, various companies, organizations, leaders and celebrities worldwide have come together to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
HRC.org
Grieving Mother Says “Gay Conversion Therapy Killed My Son”
Linda and her husband, Rob, at Ryan’s gravestone.
When Linda Robertson’s son, Ryan, came out to her over instant messenger when he was 12, she was “completely shocked.”
It was November 2001. Linda was on the computer in her home office when she received an instant message from Ryan, who was on the computer in his bedroom.
“Can I tell you something?” he asked.
“Yes, I am listening,” Linda replied.
“I am gay,” Ryan said.
At first, Linda wasn’t sure how to respond.
“[My] only brother had come out to us several years before, and we adored him. But Ryan? He was unafraid of anything, tough as nails, and ALL boy,” Robertson writes on her blog justbecausehebreathes.com. “We had not seen this coming, and the emotion that overwhelmed us, kept us awake at night and, sadly, influenced all of our reactions over the next six years, was FEAR.”
Linda and her husband, Rob, gave Ryan an ultimatum: “Basically, we told our son that he had to choose between Jesus and his sexuality.”
For the next several years, Ryan was forced to attend weekly “reparative therapy meetings” with the family’s pastor. He grew depressed, even suicidal. Finally, after six years, he hit his breaking point. Just before his 18th birthday, Ryan ran away from home.
“He decided to throw out his Bible and his faith at the same time, and to try searching for what he desperately wanted — peace — another way,” his mother says. “And the way he chose to try first was drugs.”
He started with marijuana and alcohol, but within six months was also doing cocaine, crack, and heroin.
After 18 months, Ryan moved back home. Things between his parents improved slightly. But within 10 months, he was back into drugs. In the spring of 2009, he overdosed. He slipped into a coma, and 17 days later, he was dead.
He was 20 years old.
Linda kisses Ryan on the cheek just days before he died of a drug overdose.
“What we had wished for … prayed for … hoped for … that we would NOT have a gay son, came true,” Linda writes. “But not at all in the way we used to envision. Suddenly our fear of Ryan someday having a boyfriend (a possibility that honestly terrified me) seemed trivial in contrast to our fear of Ryan’s death.”
She continues: “When I think back on the fear that governed all my reactions during those first six years after Ryan told us he was gay, I cringe as I realize how foolish I was. I was afraid of all the wrong things. And I grieve, not only for my oldest son, who I will miss every day for the rest of my life, but for the mistakes I made. I grieve for what could have been, had we been walking by FAITH instead of by FEAR.”
Now, Linda has made it her mission to share her story with other Christian parents, in hopes of dissuading them from making the same mistakes she did. Both she and Rob have spent the past few years traveling around the county, speaking on behalf of the gay community and hoping to convince Evangelicals to support their gay children.
“Whenever Rob and I join our gay friends for an evening, I think about how much I would love to be visiting with Ryan and his partner over dinner,” Linda writes. “But instead, we visit Ryan’s gravestone.”
“We celebrate anniversaries,” she continues. “The would-have-been birthdays and the unforgettable day of his death. We wear orange — his color. We hoard memories: pictures, clothing he wore, handwritten notes, lists of things he loved, tokens of his passions, recollections of the funny songs he invented, his Curious George and baseball blankey, anything, really, that reminds us of our beautiful boy.”
“That is all we have left,” she says, “and there will be no new memories.”
h/t: News.com
Related stories:
The Horrors Inside A Christian Conversion Cult Are Exposed First-Hand
How This Young Gay Man Forgave His Father For Forcing Him To Endure Hell Of Conversion Therapy
Steve Grand Says His Ex-Gay Conversion Therapist Is A Good Man
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
British ACT UP Activists Dump Cow Dung Outside Anti-Gay Party's Offices On World AIDS Day: VIDEO
ACT UP: London is back, and they aren’t taking any more B.S.
Activists from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power say they dumped half a ton of cow dung outside the UK Independent Party’s South London headquarters on Monday, in response to statements by UKIP leader Nigel Farage that people living with HiV should be barred from migrating to Britain.
Gay Star News reports that the World AIDS Day action symbolizes a resurgence for ACT UP: London, which has been less visible over the last 10 years.
Activists adorned the “fresh and steaming” pile of crap with a red AIDS ribbon and also hung a banner saying “what goes around comes around.”
ACT UP’s Gary Hunter said:
“We’ve had enough of UKIP’s misinformation and offensive attacks on minorities. We wanted to show Farage that people living with HIV aren’t going to take his B.S. any longer – so we’ve returned it. The vile crap that UKIP keeps spreading stigmatises and ostracises people living with HIV, gay people and immigrants. We thought this steaming pile of muck was a great representation of what we, as HIV-positive people, think of UKIP’s agenda.”
Earlier this year, when asked what types of people should be allowed to migrate to Britain, Farage told Newsweek Europe:
“People who do not have HIV, to be frank. That’s a good start. And people with a skill.”
The U.K. has never barred immigrants with HIV, even at the height of fear and stigma in the 1980s. Only 12 percent of countries currently deport people with HIV, and the US lifted its HIV travel ban in 2009.
Farage is not the only member of UKIP to make homophobic comments of late. Earlier this year, UKIP suspended its councillor David Silvester after he said flooding that hit the UK in December and January was caused by same-sex marriage. And last month, the former deputy leader of UKIP, Lord Christopher Monckton, said gay people lead a “deathstyle” and have up to 20,000 partners in their “short, miserable lives.”
ACT UP activist Mario Azeitona said:
“UKIP keep saying that they speak for ordinary British people, but the vast majority of people totally reject their poisonous views. We are sending a message back to them that they do not represent the Britain most of us know – based on respect, solidarity and community. We hope others who’ve been targeted by UKIP follow our lead so that wherever Farage goes he meets people rejecting his crap and returning it to him. UKIP stink, so Farage better get used to the smell of his own B.S.”
Watch ACT UP activist Dan Glass explain the protest in a video, AFTER THE JUMP …
John Wright
AmfAR Chairman Kenneth Cole: We're 'Dead Set' On Finding A Cure For AIDS By 2020
You probably have heard Kenneth Cole’s name in conjunction with his eponymous shoe brand, but the designer has another impressive title on his resume: chairman of amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research.
In honor of World AIDS day, Cole spoke to HuffPost Live about the organization’s determination to find a cure for this life-threatening virus.
“There are still 5000 Americans who continue to die everyday of AIDS-related causes, and around the world it’s over two million, so we have to continue to stay focused, and amfAR is dead set on finding a cure by the year 2020,” he told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani in a Monday interview.
“We started an initiative called ‘Countdown To A Cure,'” he continued. “It’s clearly ambitious — and at the end of the day when I tell you we will unequviocally realize that goal, I’ll tell you that if we don’t, we’ll die trying.”
A plan for curing the 35 million living with AIDS exists, according to the footwear maven. Putting it into effect is where amfAR comes in.
“There’s a research road map ultimately for this to happen,” he said. “We’ll allocate all of our resources — intellectual resources, scientific resources, financial resources — we’re trying to raise an additional 100 million dollars to help realize that goal.”
Watch more from Kenneth Cole’s HuffPost Live conversation here.
Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s new morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!
Hookup Fail: Hot Tub Three-Way Ends In Hilarious Arrest
Michael Gordon (left), Austin Adams (center), and Douglas Tench (right)
We’ve heard of plenty of hookup stories that went south, but this one has to take the cake.
Austin Adams, 18, Michael Gordon, 33, and Douglas Tench, 21 met at a nightclub in Spartanburg, S.C. and hit it off. They decided to take the party back to a private residence in Boiling Springs, S.C., where Gordon was dog sitting for the homeowner.
Predictable shenanigans ensued as they made use of their leant surroundings. The back porch led to the hot tub — you know the story.
But around 1:30 in the morning, Adams and Tench got into a dispute over who was the highest paid escort. As the old saying goes, three things you should never talk about on a first date are politics, religion and how much you get paid to have sex with strangers.
The argument turned physical, and Adams lost control and started hitting Tench with his hands and feet while still in the hot tub.
Tench fled the scene and called a friend, who then called the cops.
After confessing to the assault, Adams reportedly told the cops to just, “arrest him and be done with it.”
It’s safe to say Michael Gordon will never be asked to dog sit again.
Dan Tracer
News: Prince Harry, House of Cards, Police Body Cameras, Elton John
Prince Harry reveals his secret for World AIDS Day campaign. “My secret is, believe it or not, I get incredibly nervous before public speaking no matter how big the crowd or the audience”
Longtime gay activists (and friends) Peter Staley and Sean Strub find themselves on opposite sides in the debate over PrEP. [Photos courtesy of Rex Wockner].
Netflix announces the House of Cards season 3 premiere date.
President Obama says he wants law enforcement to start wearing body cameras.
Tony Dungy, the former NFL coach-turned-NBC analyst who said he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam because he wouldn’t want to “deal with all of it” (read=media attention), said last night that he would welcome wife-beater Ray Rice onto a team.
Madonna goes topless for a magical interview with illusionist David Blaine.
A gay hot tub threesome in South Carolina ended in handcuffs after two of the men began fighting over which one was the highest paid escort.
The new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer gets the George Lucas treatment.
Rather than focus on holiday shopping or family dinners, the anti-gay Christian group Focus on the Family decided to spend Black Friday devaluing gay lives.
PHOTOS: Stunning images of the first AIDS hospice center and its patients circa 1992.
Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon on why he chose to save Benjy the Gay Bull from the slaughterhouse: “All animals have a dire destiny in the meat trade, but to kill this bull because he’s gay would’ve been a double tragedy”.
Is Rosie O’Donnell getting ready to leave The View again?
Male model Monday: Sebastian Sauve.
Elton John on his controversial friendship with Rush Limbaugh: “I’ve been sober for 24 years now, and one of the best lessons it taught me is to listen. When it comes to people like Rush Limbaugh, or people who might enrage you sometimes, dialogue is the only way. You have to reach out….Better to build a bridge than a wall.”
Michael Fassbender goes surfing in Australia.
Spice Girls singer Mel B opens up about her four year relationship with another woman and how she’s been “very happily married for seven years to a penis”.
It seems poking fun at Anne Hathaway has become an international endeavor.
Kyler Geoffroy
Rede Afro LGBT
WATCH: Latest Marriage Wins Aren't as Simple as They Seem
Last week saw two victories in Southern states, but there may be bumps in the road before the cases get much further.
Matt Baume
Elton John Discusses Controversial Relationship With Rush Limbaugh
Why does Elton John have a relationship with Rush Limbaugh?
John sat down with Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation this week to discuss a range of topics, including race and sexuality. At one point in the interview, John’s controversial relationship with the anti-gay talk show host became a point of conversation.
“I’ve been sober for 24 years now, and one of the best lessons it taught me is to listen,” John told The New York Times. “When it comes to people like Rush Limbaugh, or people who might enrage you sometimes, dialogue is the only way. You have to reach out… Whether you make an impact in one year or 30 years, it doesn’t matter. You have to put your foot in the water and start the process.”
John and Limbaugh have been friends for a number of years and the the piano great performed at the conservative media personality’s fourth wedding in 2011. John previously spoke out about this performance, saying that he hoped to open a dialogue about queer issues with Limbaugh.
Head here to read the rest of the interview with John and Walker.
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