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Women often take the front line in the battle against HIV/AIDS

Women often take the front line in the battle against HIV/AIDS

Sheila Keathley, owner of one of the first gay restaurants/bars in Colorado, the Denver Detour, lost count of how many people she’s lost to HIV/AIDS over the past 30 years.

Sheila Keathley

“I’ve had a lot of personal moments with people when they were in their final moments,” she said. “I’ve been at their bedsides as they’ve died. It really touches my heart, and is very sad.”

When recounting the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we tend to focus on the individuals it has affected, the countless deaths we have witnessed during the past three decades and working toward decreasing the number of new infections each year.

We have seen, firsthand, how the virus has taken its toll on the gay community, yet, in one way or another, it affects us all.

Much deserved credit needs to be awarded to the population that has been fighting with gusto, behind the scenes at bedsides and street marches spreading awareness for the epidemic. It is women who have been the backbone in the battle; women who have dedicated their lives to working to support and care for their infected friends and loved ones.

In recent years women have led the online fundraising efforts for AIDS Walk Colorado.

The women are the driving force in the care, support and awareness of the epidemic. They have stepped up to the crisis, and held the burden of caring for the sick as well as working towards developing a healthier future.

Keathley recalled the first AIDS Walk Colorado when she made more than 2,000 burritos for the event, before there were corporate sponsorships.

“I think, when you have friends, loved ones and family members that have AIDS, there’s just no way you can turn your back and look the other way,” she said. “I ran a gay restaurant, so it’s affected a lot of personal friends and a lot of my customers over the years.”

Keathley acknowledged that women have always been involved in the epidemic. And revealed that she has seen more deaths from AIDS than most people would ever see in their lifetime.

A Colorado Springs woman, Alma Cremonesi, a pioneer feminist who opened a safe house for battered women, developed a hospice dedicated to housing and caring for people living with the virus in the early ’80s.

Aside from her political role in the feminist movements, Cremonesi realized the need was there for women to be involved. “I think women are just really caring about these types of things,” she said. “We tend to empathize more but we also have gay male friends so the women came forward.”

But women have harbored negative feelings in the beginning of the epidemic, she said.

As a San Francisco resident, in the early ’80s, she saw lesbians struggle with the amount of funding for AIDS-related projects. “I experienced a lot of resentment from women about AIDS,” she said. “It really corresponded with the gentrification happening there and the lesbians that were forced to leave because they couldn’t afford the housing.”

After all, the early ’80s was an era where women weren’t as economically stable as men. Not to mention, it corresponded with the breast cancer epidemic, which heavily affected lesbians.

Yet, Cremonesi shared that Colorado is very fortunate because gay and lesbian issues are much more integrated. There has been more of an allegiance and partnership between the two, and of course, women in the community will continue to be involved where they are needed, she said.

However, it is not the gay and lesbian’s who have struggled to support the cause. There is an outdated stigma stemming from mainstream society. That is the real challenge said Carol Lease, the Executive Director of The Center during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and the current Executive Director of the Empowerment Program.

“The populations affected have never been held in high esteem,” Lease said.

Lease said that although there have been significant changes in treatment it continues to be criminalized and fueled by politics and homophobia. “The stigma is there, because it is connected with a sex-act,” she said. “There aren’t many diseases where the person affected is blamed for contracting the disease.”

After all, the LGBT community is still struggling for their basic rights in most of the country. And that’s exactly where Lease thinks the change needs to happen.

“It’s really going to take changing a lot of laws. And, people need to start recognizing it as a disease that shouldn’t be attached to a homosexual person. It’s a virus, a challenging and ever-moving crisis.”

Women across the nation have taken their positions alongside Lease, Keathley and Cremonesi as they continue to take roles as directors and organizers of nonprofits and foundations that act as a fortress in prevention and care.

As Keathley said, “We need to stick together and be concerned about what has happened, and what is happening still. Women (will continue to) be concerned about our community, because, it affects us too.”

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