HIV infection and AIDS is growing – but so too is public apathy. We have already lost too many friends and colleagues.
We need men and women to sit down and talk to each other about sex honestly and openly. That would help us fight Aids so immediately. But our lack of communication is hugely problematic.
The part in ‘Philadelphia’ where I represent the law firm that’s firing Tom Hanks, that was a hard part for me because I lost one of my best friends to AIDS, and it was hard for me to play a part that wasn’t sympathetic to someone with AIDS.
When the AIDS epidemic broke, because I happened to be a science nerd and knew a lot about viruses and a lot about that virus at the time, I felt a moral obligation to go out and try to stem the fear and get out and explain to people what the disease was and how it worked.
I started to write about science and medicine at the ‘Washington Post,’ in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
90 percent of the cost of malaria drugs has come down because of the work of the Clinton Foundation. There are over 10 million people around the globe today receiving life-saving HIV and AIDS drug treatments because of the Clinton Foundation.
On December 17, 1984, I had surgery to remove two inches of my left lung due to pneumonia. After two hours of surgery the doctors told my mother I had AIDS.
I can remember in the late 1980s and early 1990s how many men with AIDS I saw everywhere in Key West. There were hospices and medical supply stores geared to people with AIDS. It seemed that every sick man who could afford it had headed for the warmth and the tranquillity and the gay-friendliness of the island.
I don’t think President Bush is doing anything at all about Aids. In fact, I’m not sure he even knows how to spell Aids.
Hearing loss has not affected my vocal range. I can still pitch perfectly, but without the hearing aids, I don’t hear the intricate high parts of the actual spectrum.
