What's he on about now?

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   Monday, September 22, 2003

DOWN (LOW) BUT NOT OUT

To the shock of pretty-well no one, the UN announced this week that the governments of the world aren't doing much to hold back the spread of AIDS. It seems that all the promises made two years back at the previous summit haven't been met. That's what I call a slow news week, and another depressing reminder that the powers-that-be just don't care about the real problems facing us.

For example, our current mayoral race has all three major candidates vowing to be tougher on crime than their opponents. John Tory, for one, practically has the theme from 'Cops' on his radio ads. Too bad there's so little crime in Toronto for them to get tough about. As far as I can see, wandering psychotic homeless people are this city's real problem but they're harder to fit into a soundbite.

I digress. The AIDS item was what struck me today, especially in combination with this article in the Washington Post about the female partners of black men unwittingly contracting HIV from them. Anyone familiar with the plight of 'crack babies' knows that the press just loves the 'innocent victim' story but, whatever their motives, it's good to see this issue being discussed. It's a sad fact that some 'straight' black men are having unprotected sex with other men 'on the down-low', contracting the HIV virus and passing it on to their unsuspecting wives and girlfriends. This stirs up all our anxieties around race, class, sexuality and disease but the bottom line is that these women suffer a horrifying betrayal from men too afraid to stand up to their homophobic peers.

You want to get tough on crime, John Tory? Start advocating that black men accept the gay brothers in their ranks and you'll do a lot more to prevent some real, ongoing crimes, rather than punishing the occasional B & E. Oh right, too difficult, too tricky. Forget I mentioned it, though the wives won't.

Labels: Trawna