Yes, folks it’s that time of year again, AIDS 2018! Another year another conference meant to bring awareness to the AIDS pandemic, turned into a lavish event for social justice warriors to push their agenda.
This year they have really upped the ante by adding artistic performances by groups like ‘House of Hopelezz’ drag queens invited to dance around in skimpy bikinis, Dutch national ballet dancers, and a speech from a trans activist Conchita. Plus, award ceremonies honoring current sex workers with prestigious awards and multiple scheduled demonstrations one of which interrupted Bill Clinton to demand decriminalization of sex work.
Not to mention, special guests starring Elton John and Prince Harry! The duke of Sussex got roped into this one, trying to carry on what his mother Diana started back in her day. See some of the highlights for yourself!
But wait, that’s not all, the best part is, YOU GET TO PAY FOR IT! That’s right, this whole event is put on by your US tax dollars!
Organizations like UNAIDS, UNDP, and WHO get the most funding from the U.S. and are some of the top sponsors of this event. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself:
![WHO Funding [2]:](http://www.who.int/images/default-source/infographics/budget/top-20.jpg){kind=link}
And here is the funding for the AIDS 2018 event [3]:
The purpose of the event is supposed to be to help in the AIDS pandemic, not to use US dollars to throw a Social Justice warrior party.
If this wasn’t bad enough, I witnessed a speaker at the event victimize the newest group of marginalized people, PWID- People Who Ingest Drugs.
I wish I was joking, but apparently Olena Stryzhak of Positive Women Ukraine, believes, alongside nearly the entirety of the conference, that people who ingest illegal drugs are now a group that is discriminated against.
Not only are they discriminated against in their choice to ingest illegal drugs, because of the stigma surrounding their choices, but they are specifically a targeted group of the HIV pandemic.
This correlation is no coincidence, seeing as needle sharing is one of the top transmitters of HIV, plus according to the CDC when you are drunk or high, you are more likely to make decisions that put you at risk of HIV (aka promiscuous sex without protection) [4]. The solution to this, according to UNAIDS, is to provide these druggies with clean new needles, with your tax dollars!
Stryzhak then went on to plea several other cases within the issue of stigmatization of people who ingest drugs. Apparently, although she herself defined these drugs as “New Psychoactive Substances”, the people who ingest them regularly, need to be a part of the conversation about policy that affects them. Here is the presentation slide from the conference:
So not only do we need to not stigmatize drug use, we need to protect drug users from getting AIDS by paying for their needles. Well we wouldn’t want them to engage in any dangerous activity, would we? No, they should have clean needles to shoot up with.
Finally, wouldn’t you know it, there is a gender angle to this whole issue! Apparently, women who choose to ingest new psychoactive substances, and are at higher risk of HIV because of it, need better maternal healthcare.
In the words of Stryzhak “the experience of women on drugs and those living with HIV compounded by poor access to maternal healthcare and other human rights.”
What she is saying is the call to action is to fund the efforts of saving people who regularly CHOOSE to ingest illegal drugs and CHOOSE the higher risk of HIV because of this. Plus, we need to also fund their contraceptives and abortions because moreover they are sexually promiscuous and if all else stays in tact we wouldn’t want them to get AIDS or be stuck with a baby that they don’t want.
In other words, they want us to clean up the mess that is left behind with their morals.
The key word here is choice. These people choose to ingest illegal drugs, and therefore should take responsibility for the consequences, which include the higher chance of contracting disease through needles. Another choice is to be sexually promiscuous, which gives you a higher chance of STD infection. Sexual promiscuity also makes a woman susceptible to pregnancy. In fact, any sexual intercourse makes a woman susceptible to pregnancy, hence the reason sex exists in the first place. These are all CHOICES with CONSEQUENCES.
If you want to be sexually promiscuous, you better be prepared for an STD or a baby. If you want to take illegal drugs, you better be prepared for the legal and physical consequences. These are not stigmatizations, this is reality.
The issue here is that everyone wants to be able to choose for themselves, but no one wants to take responsibility for their choices. You can’t have it both ways, and you won’t.
No longer should we as a country fund these organizations that promote this immoral behavior and pay for its consequences.
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Sources:
[1] United Nations Development Programme. “Top Contributors.” UNDP, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/funding/top-contributors.html.
[2] World Health Organization. “Infographic: U.S. Healthcare Spending.” Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 19 July 2017, www.pgpf.org/infographic/infographic-us-healthcare-spending.
[3] AIDS 2018. “Conference Sponsors & Supporters.” About, 2018, www.aids2018.org/Sponsors-Exhibitors/Sponsors/Conference-sponsors-supporters.
[4] USA.gov. “HIV/AIDS.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 July 2018, www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/transmission.html.
Photo Credit:
©International AIDS Society/Matthijs Immink/IAS
©International AIDS Society Steve Forrest/Workers’ Photos/ IAS
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