After breaking down our home away from home last night (thanks to AVAC, our corner neighbors, for lending us some extra packing tape!) Kyle and I just had one session each to attend today. While he checked out "What's Faith Got to Do With It?," a discussion on reproductive health and faith, I attended the Global Youth Pavilion's closing ceremonies. The festivities concluded with a slideshow of youth journalists' photos from the conference, giving everyone a chance to see AIDS 2010 through young people's lenses.
On a more solemn note, the Vienna AIDS 2010 Memorial Quilt was on display in the Global
Village. As Lady GaGa blasted through the main stage's speakers and new friends embraced with promises to see each other in DC in 2012, the quilt was a stark reminder that AIDS still kills. Some squares memorialized those who had vowed to make it from AIDS 2008 in Mexico City to AIDS 2010 in Vienna but never got the chance. Many were dedicated to women, to the mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and activists who also didn't live to see 2010. Of course, the quilt was not without hope or humor.
High-five for using condoms!
Amongst the Sharpie'd- and fabric-painted collage, though, a single square seized my attention.
The stigma and isolation described by this anonymous quilter reminded me of why Catholics for Choice promotes Condoms4Life. When the bishops ban condoms and promote abstinence as the sole solution to HIV, they perpetuate the cycle of pain captured in this single quilt square. They leave good Catholics shamed and ostracized by their own communities, and they prevent people from accessing life-saving prevention education and tools. As our posters say, though, Catholics believe in caring for each other. We believe in compassion and choice. We believe, as this anonymous quilter seemed to, that people of faith should not feel stigmatized by their own. So, while we gear up to bid auf wiedersehen to Vienna, rest assured: Catholics for Choice has heard your stories, and we're ready to take action.
-Meghan
Thanks, Meghan and Kyle, for keeping us tuned in to the important work you're doing, and for being a powerful voice in Vienna!
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