speech that I wanted to keep before the concert of November 30, 2010 in the chapel of the Palazzo Farnese Accursio of Bologna. (In the end, not to bore the audience too, I decided to say a few words improvised)
I remember the first time I heard of AIDS. I must have been 7 or 8 years. Freddie Mercury had just died and the records of the Queen had known, of course, a boom in sales, came up to my classmates in elementary. My teacher said that Christina was very fond of the music of Freddie Mercury, but that seemed regrettable that sanctify a man who had died of AIDS. Fosse died of cancer could understand. The first thing I learned is that AIDS is not something respectable.
Growing up I also learned that people with AIDS, which, as shown by advertising, could be distinguished for the characteristic purple glow, place contaminated needles or buttons on pedestrian crossings on the handles of car doors in order to infect as many people as possible to urge pharmaceutical companies to find a cure. And the idea of \u200b\u200bbeing able to bite with a discarded syringe in a park was my main fear.
Later I received more correct, but my perspective has changed radically a few years ago, when I knew a guy who told me to be HIV positive. He was HIV positive but was full of life, work, travel, had many interests ... There was an American film and was not circled in purple, was there to sleep in my guest room.
E 'was to explain that he no doubt had many other friends living with HIV but did not tell me to be, which in fact is. Suddenly the HIV (and AIDS) had entered into my world and were no longer a mythological punishment for those who do not behave according to a moral code (not have sex / do little sex / use condoms / etc ...), but a disease. Just like cancer or multiple sclerosis. And fortunately, with new therapies, much less terrible than those.
Many of you here tonight will probably recognize themselves in my story. But unfortunately most people living with HIV has the opportunity to meet people who speak openly of their HIV status, because there is so much fear. Fear of being away, not to get a job, not finding more sexual partners, fear, namely, fear of others. It 's a bit the same situation of homosexuality, with the burden, being an infectious disease, people can refuge behind a seemingly rational reasons, to safeguard their health.
The most important thing is therefore correct information: find out how you can and can not contract the virus. For this reason we shall refer to the Club Arcigay "The Formwork" tomorrow, from 11 to 18 in square Ravegnana distributing condoms and informational materials and formwork to the 18:30 showing of the video "Do it right!" produced by Arcigay at the International AIDS Conference held in July in Vienna.
But AIDS is not only a medical and scientific. Because if one discovers he has cancer talks about it with friends and parents, and discovers she is HIV positive is not unlikely that you decide to keep the news to himself? Why is my elementary school teacher believed that the death of Freddy Mercury was unbecoming? It is that AIDS is a disease that primarily takes having sex. And sex is a sin. So if you get AIDS the six circles. This mental mechanism, which most often is not explicit, it is not just only the Pope and Catholics, but of an entire society.
The reason for this concert is here: AIDS is not just hope that the scientific community to determine precisely the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and find a cure, but also to fight prejudices that affect the lives of most HIV-positive HIV-infection itself. By associating our music with the word AIDS is not just want to commemorate people who died from the disease, but above all we want to invite reflection: you afraid that your neighbor is HIV positive? you afraid that your neighbor may find that you are HIV positive? Did you know that your neighbor might be frightened by you? What do you do to make this not happen?
Once one of the many singers asked me for one night, a bit 'annoyed by the idea of \u200b\u200bthis concert, "but why do we always make this connection between homosexuality and AIDS?".
For a long time AIDS was "the disease of homosexuals," then "the disease of drug addicts." Now the cases among heterosexuals are by far the majority and is the disease of all. But the homosexual community first developed for a greater awareness of the problem and we believe that an HIV-positive homosexual encounters, at least among her gay friends, not discrimination and isolation that a heterosexual HIV-positive. We believe that historically the gay community has a mission to further the fight against AIDS and that is why I sing tonight.
