Taking responsibility for ourselves

At a rally in Washington Friday, speaker after speaker after speaker rose to the lectern and lambasted the president and his administration for what they saw as a fundamental failure in dealing with the global AIDS crisis.

Of course, in Washington, the fears and the anger and the sense of abandonment becomes exponentially worse because in this city, the capital, the seat of our democracy, HIV-infection rates are higher than any other city in the U.S. Here, 1 in 20 residents has HIV.

Yes, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief thwarts effective efforts by requiring that 33 percent of the funds sent abroad to fight AIDS be used for abstinence only education programs.

But, sometimes, we have to take responsibility for our own actions. In two new reports, it seems that HIV-positive men who know their HIV status continue to have unprotected sex. And although some of the partnerings are between two HIV-positive men, it's still a grim and dissapointing look at how -- as much as we clamor for more help in fighting the disease -- the gay community continues to engage in dangerous practices.

It's been 25 years since the public truly became aware of the epidemic. 25 years.

Why do we continue to infect each other? Why do we continue to engage in such risky activity?

Why can't we do as much for ourselves as we demand from others?