When I decided to organize a team for the local AIDS walk, I also addressed the difficulty some people face when asked to raise funds.

Personally, I do not lack skills in this task, however, many people, especially women, find it difficult to ask people for money, whether it is their own or someone else’s. To help my team collect pledges, I wrote some ‘talking points’ for them; a variety of facts about HIV / AIDS, which they could use as a source to talk to people about HIV / AIDS. To do this correctly, I needed to research some statistics myself. What I found didn’t really surprise me, but I knew it would surely surprise others.

New reported cases of AIDS have increased by 33% in the age group 50 and over, and that statistic represents a span of two years, not a total percentage. This fact alone was not only a surprise to people, but also a source of fun. Apparently, the old axiom of believing that people your parents’ age do not have sex still exists among today’s more “enlightened” young people. On second thought, the fact that AIDS is growing among older people should come as no surprise.

In Florida and Arizona, there are six widowed or single women for every man in that age group. Today, people over 50 years of age enjoy better health and a younger appearance than their parents. With the advent and availability of erectile dysfunction medications, any man in his 70s can also be called a “condo cowboy.” Yes, older adults not only date, they have more opportunities to do so than singles in their 40s. However, the once liberating state of being past menopause has given many dating women and sexually active women in this age group a sense of security. Where educated safe sex must be practiced, denial-based risky sexual behavior is resulting in new AIDS cases breaking out in older communities.

The current administration in the United States has deceptively enforced a message of monogamy and abstinence as a reliable means of disease and birth control. In doing so, he has done a disservice not only to the young, but to all segments of the population. Furthermore, this “message” is preached to America’s youth, within the confines of public education (and government-funded education). If AIDS is not discussed openly among all, how will the segments of the population who no longer attend school realize the risk of HIV / AIDS?

In order not to whip a dead or dying horse, the recent Foley rampage has brought to light something that should have been obvious: The Republican Party, like any group, is just as “guilty” of a major sexual curse as were the occupiers. previous of the White Casa. But here the similarities end: the attitudes holier than you that dominate Republican politics had no place in the Clinton administration.

Turn on the television in prime time and you will be assaulted by contradictory messages that seem to go hand in hand with repressive sexual politics. Primetime is full of desperate housewives, men in trees, and youth-oriented advertising, all using sex as the only reason to buy products. It’s a sexy world with zero responsibility for a safe intimate conference.

Yes, the current political climate may be directly responsible for the lack of information or the degree of misinformation about HIV / AIDS and STDs. You are fully responsible for our parents or grandparents thinking that the worst thing that could happen to them while having risky and unsafe sex could be an unexpected pregnancy. It is not only time to bring the facts about HIV / AIDS to light, it is more than necessary to educate all human beings in this country about AIDS and the effect that AIDS could have not only on our economy, but also in our health. healthcare services, health workers, families, communities and all of humanity. Hiding your head in the sand in Florida or Arizona will not prevent AIDS. Understanding how AIDS spreads and what constitutes high-risk behavior will prevent AIDS.