Magic: A gift and a curse!

Magic Johnson once said he is the "gift and curse of HIV".  The gift because people see his life and know that there is life after an HIV diagnosis.  The curse because people think that HIV is not that serious.  I don't know where you were for that press conference when Magic announced his retirement due to having contracted HIV.  I was about 11 years old and I remember it like it was yesterday.  He stood there two months after his wedding with his pregnant wife, Cookie, sitting to his right side announcing that he had contracted the virus from having unprotected sex and that the women he had slept with were so numerous that he couldn't be sure who had infected him. He smiled and said "my wife is fine. She's negative......I plan on going on living for a long time......and going on with my life...........I plan to become a spokesman for the HIV virus because I want people and young people to realize they can practice safe sex. You know you a little naive about it and you think it can never happen to you.  You only think it can happen to other people."  Almost 20 years after that horrible press conference, HIV is on the rise!!

Every year, the United States recognizes March 10th as National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD). It’s a nationwide initiative to raise awareness about the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women & girls and encourages ladies to take action. While progress has definitely been made in the areas of AIDS prevention and treatment, women still represent 27% of all new AIDS diagnoses, with African-American women accounting for 66% of that group. This year focuses on this statistic, “Every 35 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States.”


So today I want to introduce you to 2 women who I find inspiring.  They don't have a basketball legacy that'll live on forever.  They don't have movie theatres in every major city in the US.  They aren't strippers, hookers, hoes, or prostitutes.  Even though I hate when people act like strippers and prostitutes deserve HIV or AIDS.  Who do you think these strippers and prostitutes sleep with???? Your man!!! Now back to what I was saying. These women are clean.  And yes men have told me they don't date dirty women as if HIV is a dust mite.  They are beautiful, well-dressed, sexy, curvy, intelligent, educated, and everything else a man could ever look for in a wife, girlfriend, babymother, or jumpoff.  And these women are HIV positive.  I'm hoping you will look at these women not with sympathy.  They don't need your sympathy.  Don't analyze them as if you're a psychologist or psychiatrist and they're your case study.  Everybody has some issues.  And definitely do not judge them. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and admit to the world that they've done the EXACT same thing we've all done - had unprotected sex with a man. 


Meet Marvelyn Brown: 
www.marvelynbrown.com
Marvelyn Brown learned she was HIV-positive at the tender age of 19.  She had contracted the virus through unprotected sex with her "Prince Charming".  Marvelyn, now 26 years old, is a dedicated activist for HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Through her nonprofit organization Marvelous Connections, she has given a voice to the rapidly rising number of women afflicted with both diseases in the United States. She has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” CNN and multiple other media programs and outlets in support of these efforts. She has spoken to more than half a million people globally to date, 200,000 of which went on to be tested for HIV/AIDS after listening to her speak. Her goal is to continue using her personal story of contraction to educate others and, ultimately, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Her autobiography, The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive, was published in 2008. 



Meet Rae Lewis-Thornton

www.raelewisthornton.com
Educated, attractive, assertive and ambitious are just a few of the words used to describe Rae Lewis-Thornton. In 1986, during a routine blood drive visit at a Washington D.C. Red Cross, Rae received news of another word that would soon be used to describe her health and future. At the tender age of 23, Rae Lewis-Thornton was diagnosed HIV Positive. Despite her present day status of having full-blown AIDS (ACQUIRED Immune-deficiency Syndrome), Rae Lewis-Thornton leads her own unending crusade to educate and challenge young and old audiences to take control of their own bodies, futures and health. Rae uses her life as an example that AIDS is a non-discriminatory disease. She challenges the most common myths and stereotypes surrounding who and how one can become infected with the HIV virus that most often results in AIDS and death. In doing this, she incorporates her own oratory skills, personal experiences and unyielding honesty to create and disseminate her critical and deadly message of her own day by day, personal destruction by AIDS.