HIV/AIDS activist brings practical message to Nassau
By Amelia A. Hart
Nassau Neighbors staff writer
HIV and AIDS were the topics
Monday night in Callahan, but fighting fear with education and compassion was
the message.
The Callahan Lions Club hosted an
educational seminar by Cathy Robinson Pickett, a nationally known HIV/AIDS
activist and the wife of former Callahan Lions Club member Steve Pickett.
During a 1 1/2-hour presentation,
Pickett spoke frankly about how HIV is spread -- through unprotected sexual
contact and direct blood exchange -- and gave practical advice on how to avoid
contracting it and other blood-borne and sexually transmitted diseases.
The lingering stereotype that
only young, gay, white men and intravenous drug users get HIV leaves people at
risk, Pickett said.
|
HIV/AIDS activist
Cathy Robinson Pickett speaks Monday at the Callahan Lions Club about how the
virus is spread and ways to prevent becoming infected. |
Sharing a razor, sharing tattoo
needles, kissing a child's boo-boo on the playground, stopping at an accident to
help when you've got a cut on your hand -- all can infect a person, Pickett
said.
"It is not illicit, illegal
activities. It's not who you are; it's what you do," she said.
One of every 168 Floridians now
is living with HIV/AIDS, Pickett said. People over the age of 50 are one of the
fastest growing populations nationwide testing positive for HIV, and one out of
46 African-American men in Florida is HIV-positive, she said.
"We have a serious problem
on our hands," Pickett said. "Everybody knows more than 168 people.
Everybody comes in contact every day with someone who's HIV-positive. ... If
you're walking on this planet, you're at risk of this disease."
But HIV isn't the only reason
people need to talk about safe sex, Pickett said.
One of every five people over the
age of 13 in
Pickett stressed that passing
judgment on people who have HIV/AIDS makes people afraid to get tested for HIV
and afraid to tell others they have it. And that fosters an atmosphere that
will only kill more.
"On this side, you've got
your Cathy Robinsons, the Arthur Ashes, the Ryan
Whites. And it's 'Oh, that's so sad,'" Pickett said. "On the other
side, there's 'If you'd only kept your pants zipped,' ... or 'If you weren't
doing what you shouldn't have.' That kind of judgment causes the disease to
spread."
Statistics can't fully relate the
human cost of HIV, Pickett said.
Since going public with her
story, Pickett has received death threats. She also had a cross burned on her
lawn the same day she registered one of her two children for kindergarten, she
said.
Six years ago, someone put her
and her then-husband's name on a prayer list read during a church service. The
pastor said only that he hoped they die quickly, Pickett said. The person who
put her on the list now is 65, has AIDS and is afraid for people to know.
"Dying alone without the
support of your family, friends, minister, rabbi, priest
-- that's what's sad. That's the way the majority of AIDS patients die in this
country," Pickett said.
Representatives from the Nassau
County Health Department and Yulee-based Healing BALM Ministries, both of which
offer free, confidential and anonymous HIV testing, echoed Pickett's concerns.
"The face of AIDS/HIV is
very wide in
Sexually transmitted diseases are a problem in