Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

24 Apr 2010 12:29

tags

Culture: Elton John redefines heartfelt with open letter to Ryan White

  • Twenty years ago this month, you died of AIDS. I would gladly give my fame and fortune if only I could have one more conversation with you, the friend who changed my life as well as the lives of millions living with HIV. Instead, I have written you this letter.
  • Elton John • In an open letter to Ryan White, the child with AIDS he befriended in the ’80s. He died 20 years ago this month, at age 18. White’s life and death brought significant attention to the disease, in part because he was vilified for having it (he got it through an accidental blood transfusion). Much has changed since White died – many people with AIDS live productive lives with the disease thanks to improved medication. Medication which, in part, was paid for in his name. Four months after he died, the Ryan White Care Act, which set aside $2 billion yearly for AIDS medication, passed. His life helped take a stigma away from a disease which was initially loaded with one. It’s too bad he couldn’t live to see that. source

29 Nov 2009 09:14

tags

U.S.: 36 million people are on food stamps – a number leaping, fast

  • 20,000 new needy every single day source

08 Nov 2009 11:31

tags

U.S.: Could gay marriage prevent failed straight marriages?

  • It’s like you hit a brick wall when they come out. You think everything is fine and then, boom!
  • Kimberly Brooks • Describing the humiliation she went through when her ex-husband, Robert Webb, came out. Many advocates of gay marriage, particularly spouses of men and women who later came out, argue that if the stigma that went with gay relationships went away, situations like Brooks’ could be avoided. Brooks, for her part, regards her role in the ending relationship as “collateral damage.” • source