No, the picture is not from a Queen concert. Unfortunately. It is from the concert I went to the first of December. The band: Queen Machine, which is, as you can probably guess, a Queen cover band. I went with two of my friends and we had a ball! The Band is probably the closest you'll ever get to a Queen concert after Freddie Mercury's death - at least in Denmark, since I don't know any other cover band. The lead singer has copied Freddie Mercury's style, stage performance and even his way to sing. The show was just like it would've been if it had been Queen. It was the best concert I've ever been to, which probably isn't saying much, since I've only been to one before that. One thing is for sure though: I'm going to their next concert near me!
The concert was arranged by the band and the aids fond to make people aware of how you get AIDS and what needs to be done. Not only in finding a cure, but also in the way people look upon the one who has aids. The profit of the concert would go to the danish AIDS fond and the band would personally hand over the money to them. The profit was 300000 Danish kroner.
I didn't start this blog to tell you about my personal experiences, and you probably don't want to hear them either, so this is not what I am doing. This is just the main reason as to why this is a subject that you find here. After the concert which is now 27 days ago I've been thinking a lot about Aids and I've wanted to write about it in my blog. Freddie Mercury is one of my idols. And as you probably know he died of aids, which was the reason this band was working with the aids fond. AIDS is something we all should know about, but we should have our facts straight and not believe in all the stigma!
We all get 'the talk' when we're old enough, or that's at least how it should be. I remember when my mum had the talk with me. She told me about safe sex and all of those things. Of course it was awkward but it is a necessary thing. My mum told me about aids, and I don't think I understood everything at the time, but I knew I would be safe when I started having sex. It is my opinion that every mother or father should have this talk with their children and explain to them, that there can be risks when you don't protect yourself.
As mentioned we should have our facts straight, so if your reading this and thinking: 'Why's this girl even thinking about it? It's only a gay disease.' Then you clearly don't have your fact straight and I will tell you some things. First of all, this disease is not just for gays. It is something both heterosexuals and a homosexuals can get. Second of all, it starts as HIV. HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system. The virus place its own genetic material in some cells that are an important part of the immune system. By doing that the virus insures that it will be reproduced by these cells. The genetic material that the virus places in the cells will be a part of the cell, and the cell will therefor copy the virus as a part as its own in the new cells. This is they way that the virus spreads. As there comes more and more HIV infected cells there will be fewer and fewer cells that can protect and the immune system will be broken. This will make it easier for the person to become sick or be infected by infections.
These infections can lead to AIDS. AIDS is some specific infections and types of cancers, that especially people that are tested positive for HIV can get. These are not dangerous for people with a healthy immune system, but can be very serious for those with HIV.
The stigma is not about what AIDS is exactly though. The world is AIDS-phobic. What do I mean by that? We are afraid of AIDS and we fear the people who are affected by this disease. We should be afraid of the disease because it is so serious, but we should not be afraid of the people who are affected by it! The stigma is that these diseases transmits through hugging, kissing, drinking of the same cup or other social contact. This is not true. It transmits through unsafe sex, sharing needles, blood transfusions in countries where they don't check for these diseases and such.
Do not be afraid to talk to a person that is tested positive. They are just like you. You can hug them just as any other person. You can help them. Many are afraid to say that they have the disease, they don't even dare to tell their parents, if you show them kindness and treat them like you would any other person you could inspire other people to do the same, and they would gain the courage to talk about it. You could help make the world just a little better.
The first part of this interview with Lady Gaga is about AIDS if you read all of this please take a few more minutes and watch it.
