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United for Action: Vets Against AIDS

By David Cline

David Cline, National Coordinator

"Black, White, Gay Straight—AIDS does not Discriminate". On July 14, chants like this rang out on the streets of New York City when over 50,000 people joined in the largest and most diverse demonstration ever held to demand governmental action to combat the growing AIDS epidemic.

While the Democratic National Convention was meeting several blocks away, the United For AIDS action march and rally demanded that the next President of the United States provide the country with positive leadership in the fight against this deadly disease by providing adequate healthcare for those affected, and intensive research effort to find a cure, a massive grassroots educational campaign to prevent the further spread of HIV and federal legislation to end discrimination against those who have AIDS.

The march was a massive display of outrage from those affected by the epidemic and those who care. Contingents of community groups marched along with labor unions and church groups. ACT-UP had a contingent of 1000. Gay, health care and women's groups joined in. And VVAW was there.

AIDS began epidemic proportions around 1980, the year that Ronald Reagan began his first term as President. For the 8 years that he was in office and throughout George bush's administration, the record of federal government (in)action has been dismal. It took Reagan almost 4 years to even acknowledge that there was a problem and there are still no meaningful federal programs for healthcare, research or prevention. Instead we have received a barrage of rhetoric about "traditional values" aimed at blaming those who suffer while the Center for disease Control conducts useless studies much like they have done about Agent Orange.

Meanwhile thousands continue to die and more are infected daily. Since 1981, over 140,000 Americans have died from AIDS. That's more casualties than the number of GI's killed in the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars combined. AIDS is now a worldwide epidemic, spreading rapidly in Africa, Latin America, Europe and now Asia. It is estimated that in the next 8 years there will be 10 million AIDS cases and 40 million men, women and children infected with HIV throughout the world.

When AIDS first came to public attention, many looked the other way because it was "only" affecting gay men. Now the virus is spreading among all sections of the population. Increasingly hard hit are the Black, Latino and working class communities where the disease is often spread through intravenous drug use. The number of HIV positive women is skyrocketing from sexual relations with infected partners.

Coming from these communities, many of us see the ravages of this disease every day. And many veterans have contracted the virus as a direct result of their Vietnam combat experiences. A large number of GI's came home addicted to drugs and others, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, turned to drugs as a means of "self-medication". Now an abnormally high number of veterans are suffering from AIDS and many lie in VA hospitals, often abandoned by family members and friends due to the stigma attached to this disease.

Although the veteran community has been hard hit, veterans groups have been slow to respond. VVAW was the only vets organization to join the United For AIDS Action demonstration. At the march, hundreds came up to express appreciation for our presence. A number of Vietnam, WWII and more recent vets marched in contingent.

We marched on July 14 in memory of Clarence Fitch and all the other brothers and sisters who have died and we marched to raise our voices in unity to demand action for those still living. There is a struggle for justice taking place in this country today, and the fight against AIDS is one of the battlefronts.