| Gay men in particular have a great debt to women and Lesbians specifically. Of all the groups of people in the whole world, social workers, politicians, nurses, doctors, parents, other family members. NONE of these people have done more for gay men who were suffering and dying during the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s. Lesbians have done as much for gay men as we have done for ourselves.
When the rest of the world turned their backs on our brothers, Lesbian women stepped up and joined us in our fight. When medical professionals put us in isolation and dressed themselves in medical â€Å"burqas� . When the Reagan Presidency ignored our deaths and laughed at our protests, Lesbians held hands and marched with us on the protest lines. â€Å"Christians� condemned us, wanted to put us all in concentration camps and said we deserved our diseases. Lesbians were spoon feeding many of us because we were too weak to feed ourselves. Many cities ran persons with AIDS out of town. One city council in a small town in Indiana did it the polite way, they gave a dying pwa a one way bus ticked to San Francisco.
Lesbians marched with us in hundreds of cities and towns across the country. They cried with us when our partners and friends died. They helped us sew panels of the AIDS quilt and celebrate with us at every funding victory. Every victory we can celebrate now is due in no small part to the efforts on our behalf by lesbians.
Then there is the issue of gay teenagers being thrown out by their parents. Adult gay men could be accused of being child molesters so many of us had to keep our distance. But Lesbians stepped into the gap. Good â€Å"Christians� don't want these cast-offs because their homosexuality might rub off on to their normal progeny. Large numbers of lesbians volunteer, helping the homeless get off the streets and into nurturing environments..
In short, Lesbians have been equal partners with gay men for more than 30 years and we, gay men, owe them a debt we can never repay. You don't have to want to have sex with them, but we do owe them a deep abiding gratitude. Lesbians have never asked for anything in return for their service to us but we should honor them because many of us owe them our very lives. - My nickels worth
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