#tw: aids

[ladykailitha]

I have made the executive decision that since the universe Stranger Things is set in is fucking horrible that AIDS crisis doesn't happen in this 'verse.

The queer characters don't need the added trauma of such a fucked up historical event happening at the same time.

From now on, they can practice safe sex, but won't have the absolute terror of contacting a disease that WILL kill them if they don't.

Plus this fanfic, we don't HAVE to take in every world event, every horror, every wrong thing in the world and put it in our stories.

If you want to for the angst, you do you, beau, but this little Steddie writer is going to ignore all that shit for the soft stories I want to write.

[your-daily-snl]

The All My Children Wrap Party, in which the cast of a long-running soap opera returns for the final wrap party after their disappearances...or were they pushed?!

Original Air Date: 2011

[kidfrommodesto]

The 80's, The AIDS Epidemic, and Daniel Molloy

(I'm putting this under read more due to the nature of the material. I'll tag the content down below)

There is a very personal reason Daniel wrote A Shadow on the Skin, and his name is Michael "Mickey" Day.

About a year after Daniel had divorced Alice, Daniel was working as a freelance journalist in New York City. Falling back on his, habits, frequented the clubs and bars nearly every night. That was where he had met Mickey, Mickey was an artist and as free a spirit as Daniel. They connected almost immediately, fell in love and was moving into an apartment together within six months. Which is when he started doing his series of articles about Karposi Sarcoma.

But as their love grew, a dark shadow was growing expeditiously, the AIDS epidemic was taking more and more of their friends, they were attending funerals almost every day of the week. Between those left in their friend group, they all learned basic medical skills including how to suture for those being turned away or denied basic health care due to their positive status.

But then, the unthinkable happened, and Mickey was diagnosed with the disease. Daniel was fortunate and his test came back negative. Mickey begged Daniel to leave him, begged him to leave and not look back, but Daniel stayed. Daniel did the only thing Daniel knew to do and that was to write, his articles shifting, telling the stories of his friends and neighbors who were dying of what they knew now to be AIDS, he did what he could to tell their stories.

All the while, Daniel stayed by Mickey's side, taking care of him, trying to keep him home as long as he could, not wanting him to die in one of the AIDS wards they had visited so many of their friends in. But even when that time came, Daniel wouldn't leave his side unless he had to, or Mickey would make him. "Go, fucking take a shower, you smell worse than I look." Mickey would joke with him, Mickey always had a joke in the pipeline, even when he was looking death in the face.

Mickey died on a Sunday afternoon, Daniel holding his hand as he went. Daniel was inconsolable. He didn't want to go back to their apartment because he knew once he left that hospital room, once he let go of his hand, that was it. Their good friend Tim had to make Daniel let Mickey go when the nurses came to take him away.

Daniel had expected, hell everyone had expected him to go off the rails. One night he almost had, sitting at their dinner table with his father's handgun and bullets on the table in front of him. Even in his state, he couldn't do it, Mickey would kill him himself if he did that. He put the gun away and pulled out his typewriter, and copies of all his articles, he couldn't save Mickey, but maybe if he got the word out, maybe others could get the help that Mickey and so many others were denied. Which became his book.

About two years after Mickey died, Daniel had met his second wife, Margaret, to which he had his daughter Emma Molloy. Margaret knew about Mickey and had tried to get Daniel to talk about him but he couldn't, and to this day he doesn't like talking about Mickey. It's not because he didn't love him, he wasn't ashamed, but if you got Daniel talking about Mickey, he felt like he was back in that fucking New York hospital, begging for Mickey to come back.

Daniel has a small chest in his closet, filled with his memories of Mickey, and his friends that died of the disease. It's filled with memorial cards, letters, and photos. In the bottom of it, is a photo album of just him and Mickey. Every year around his death Daniel will pull it out, and look at the photos and remember him. He will also go visit his grave on his birthday, because he knew Mickey would call him dramatic for showing up on the day of his death.

To this day, Daniel continues to say that A Shadow on the Skin, was his most important book. And even now, after being turned, he hopes if he sees Mickey again one day, that he'd be proud of that.

Mickey for reference (FC: Kyle Chandler)

[gonzoscrimalpast]

Things might be getting specific this morning, but could anyone point me towards a wolfstar fic that has Sirius finding out about the AIDS crisis? Because the Sirius and Remus that live in my head were young fun gays before everything... ya know? So like thinking about Sirius asking Remus questions about people he used to know, I imagine it'd come up.

[ryan-sometimes]

Who were the lesbian blood sisters?

“Suddenly, the hospitals were full of lesbians who were volunteering. Volunteering to go into those rooms and help my friends who were dying. I remember being so moved by them because gay men hadn’t been too kind to lesbians. We’d call them ‘fish’ and make fun of the butch dykes in the bars – and yet, there they were.”

In the 80s, the AIDS crisis was devastating the world of GLBT people - as the acronym read at the time. Gay men were banned from donating blood, which was desperately needed by patients dying from AIDS. The fear around HIV was so great that doctors and nurses refused to even enter the rooms of AIDS patients. These patients were often abandoned by their families in their dying days. There was a crisis was in the GLBT community, and so lesbians stepped in.

Lesbians organized blood drives in order to give blood to AIDS patients who desperately needed it. These blood drives attracted dozens, if not hundreds of lesbians at a time who all donated their blood. They called themselves the Blood Sisters, and they organized regular blood drives for at least 4 years. HIV patients needed frequent blood transfusions due to anemia induced from the virus, and so lesbians provided this blood.

In addition to blood drives, lesbians also took place as physical caretakers for gay men with AIDS, who were often abandoned by their families and even nursing staff who refused to go into their rooms. Lesbians held hands, fed, and took care of them.

In order to honor the efforts of lesbians during the AIDS crisis, the GLBT acronym was changed to LGBT, with lesbians deliberately at the front. Lesbians were a crucial part of the fight against AIDS, and this change would immortalize it in our community.

[mayfriend]

URGENT: Pregnant mother and her four children in Gaza are burned and without shelter (verified)

Samira (@samiraayman5, @samira-family) is a pregnant mother with four children -- she and her children were sleeping rough after being displaced from their home in North Gaza multiple times, and when she finally managed to raise enough money to buy a tent for them to sleep in, it was burned by the occupation in a bombing of Al-Aqsa Hospital where they were sheltering, and so were her children.

Now Samira and her family are once again without shelter as winter approaches and the temperature is dropping, and her children also need burn medicine, which is approximately $400 due to scarcity, an expense that is on top of the exorbitant cost of food, and the money required to get another tent, as they're currently having to sleep on the hard ground.

Samira is afraid she will give birth not in hospital, or even in a tent, but on the dirty ground: this is extremely dangerous not just because of how unhygienic it is, but because of the serious diseases that are rampant in the Gaza Strip - including Hepatitis C - and Samira's anaemia and asthma, conditions caused by the displacement and suffering of the past year.

At the time of writing (4th November 2024), Samira has raised $2,959 USD out of her current goal of $20,000 USD.

The $400 for the burn medicine is needed URGENTLY so her children can heal from their injuries and avoid infection, as is the money for a tent so Samira does not have to give birth on the ground without even a mattress or tarp - tents in Gaza are currently selling for hundreds of USD, so realistically Samira needs to raise at least $1000 USD as quickly as possible.

If you can give anything to help Samira provide for her children and see to their basic needs, please donate to her gofundme (link: https://gofund.me/18a035a1 verification by @90-ghost) -- she is in great need, like so many others, and has nowhere else to turn.

[charlie-artlie]

I think the death weirdos should hang out

[keferon]

....today is the paper drawings day apparently ahaha

+ Blurr. Because. Idk. He's here too.

[genderqueerdykes]

disabled intersex trans lesbian needs help paying for bills while sick with gallstones

hello, i'm equinox. i'm a mixed disabled intersex trans lesbian. i am dealing with gallstones, one of which is lodged in the neck of my gallbladder and causing immense pain and digestive issues. i'm struggling to keep down food, some days i can't at all. i am also dealing with an injury in my left wrist that makes it very difficult to use, flare ups from hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome and psoriatic arthritis. i am struggling with my health and am in need of help as working has become very difficult and i'm being urged to rest while i await my gallbladder removal surgery

today i was told that the surgeon i was referred to can't work on patients above a certain weight and that i would need another referral to a surgeon who is used to working with fat bodies. i already waited a month to see this person, now i have to wait again. i have bills to pay, and i'm struggling to make ends meet right now due to my low energy from dealing with my health as is

i have been bed bound lately and my body has been so exhausted to the point of nearly passing out in public several times. i have been so tired i have been falling asleep against my will. i struggle to cook some days due to being so exhausted. i'm behind on housework, and i need certain cleaning items. i'm struggling to eat regularly, as sometimes i can get sick and throw up for no reason at all.

i had 4 GI procedures this month, all of which were helpful and informative, but it's wearing on me. my mental health is very fragile at the moment as my care is being prolonged for no reason. i am frequently in tears due to how tired this has been making me. i am frustrated beyond belief because i just want to be able to eat normal meals again. i can barely eat. i can barely stay awake

i currently have to pay for my electric bill, and my internet bill:

if you are interested in helping me, you can do so in the following ways:

pay pal: glittergraphicnightmare @ gmail. com cash app: $glitterGraphix venmo: $Equinoxian chime: $Equinoxian

Click here for my eBay shop!

[critterbitter]

The electric wonder duo and lightning boogaloo go skating in Castelia City! Meanwhile, Ingo and Litwick add flavor text from the safety of the sidelines.

(I think the gang take photos, little snapshots of memory that they look back on fondly.)

Masterpost for more clown shenanigans!

[myceliacrochet]

CW sui ideation

Please reblog if you answer, tysm🩷

My Pali Pen Pal, #1: "Please Don't Kill Yourself"

This is the first post in a series showing messages between my friend Manal @manal-ghorab99 and I. This one is some recent messages from me to her, and the next one will be some messages back.

How is it that Manal is there for me when she is the one actually going through genocide?

Where does that incredible compassion come from when she herself can barely move?

Manal, please don't die. We will hold you up -- steadily, this whole winter.

Come on, let's hold up a person whose hope is gritty, it is tough, it is broken and bloody, and it will prevail.

Things have gotten so much worse since this photo was taken.

But together, we WILL carry our friend and her four children through this hellish winter -- and help them make it to a future of relief.

Vetting: GazaVetters #184, the Butterfly Effect Project #1117

@butchjeremyfragrance @k1teko @ohjinyoung @revoltingcocks @yampulp @eraserheadbaby2 @nocturnal-notes @cheesyjester @kelpykare @rememberthelaughter2016 @parfaithaven @gryficowa @tittyinfinity @6o3o9 @fantasykiri5 @sadbiooi @battleofthegarys @illpunchababy @alliterate-accident @flashingdaydreams @s7ar-sai10r @playstacean @tallytals @monotremesoup @dlxxv-vetted-donations @ilikefoodandyourmom @i-named-my-cactus-albert @pogasssm @thethrillbasisindeterminable @agremlinthing @huzni @bagofbonesmp3 @amigarobot @hussyknee @divorce-enjoyer @treffyfrinn @lm13y @effen-draws @thatsonehellofabird @neechees @queerpotat @queerstudiesnatural @maester-cressen @lampsbian @freddyfazbearboyfriend @sundung

[chipinsolace]

something I wish people realized about mobility aid users is that not all of them use their mobility aid 24/7. My brother uses a cane and there are some times he can walk and navigate without a cane, although poorly. Not everyone with wheelchairs is necessarily paralyzed, and it’s not up to a stranger to decide whether or not someone needs their mobility aid because “they don’t always need it.”

[warmestshrine]

drugs/substance use tw

hiii reminder to ppl in so-called Australia that if you/anyone you know uses opioids (prescribed or recreational, no judgement here), that it's free easy and non-invasive to get naloxone at most chemists!!

I went to my local chemist warehouse today, went to the prescription counter, said "hi, I'm wondering if your chemist is part of the free narcan program?" pharmacist said yes, I said "cool, can I please get some?" she gave me two doses of nasal naloxone (brand nyxoid) and an info sheet, the only question she asked was "is this for you or someone else?" I just told her I wanted it as part of my first aid kit, and she didn't ask any follow up questions.

harm reduction saves lives and we love people who use substances and disabled people in this house!!

[niechys]

I need you all to know that I think about this post a lot. from this au by @keferon

*Pardon my anime boy First Aid I can't.

I need this to be a movie an anime or something I can't

I just winged most of the details cuz I don't understand how to draw mechs TTvTT

I also winged the Quintesson bc I have no idea how they suppose to look like. Only that I saw others draw them with green blood.

At this point maybe First Aid is a lot more comfortable in Vortex now

[ryan-sometimes]

As a queer Gen Z, I constantly think about how there’s such a huge chunk of the queer community that’s simply… missing. So much of the queer community died during AIDS that almost an entire generation of us is simply not there anymore.

Those queer people were supposed to be our teachers, our mentors, maybe even our parents or grandparents. Those queer people were supposed to be there for us. They were supposed to be at pride events, welcoming all the young queers. They were supposed to be representation in our careers. Those people were supposed to be there to help us navigate life as queer people, and it’s devastating for both us and them that they never got to do it.

[sam-out-of-energy]

I'm back writing more fic for kefs mecha jazz AU but as texaid has taken over me as of currrent thats what im writin! Just some silly guys and some silly tings, vortex being a weird character yanno :D i went for a bit of a spooky vibe but lmk what ya'll think

Tw for gore i guess? Its not that detailed, but just in case

-------

First Aid- er, Felix, didn't even bother to ask how he'd gotten here. So much had happened since that faithful day he'd been assigned to clean the mecha- er- to clean Vortex.

Thats what this thing liked to call itself apparently. Felix had taken into habit to ignore the text on screens flashing in his face, but when he'd done that the thing had started speaking in his head instead.

So they communicated through screens.

"Dance with me First Aid" it asked, over and over and over again.

When they were deployed, Felix did his darndest to avoid touching the controls. And he didn't have to try too hard as this mecha would move and control itself just fine, slicing and dicing enemies left to right with it's blades.

Felix was a silent observer to the mechas insane violence, but something about it kept him watching. Maybe it was the numbness he already felt towards corpses, but his morbid curiosity peaked whenever he watched Vortex through Vortex's eyes.

Vortex would tease Felix to its hearts content (did it even have a heart? Something equivalent to that anyway), asking him if he was "enjoying the show", wiggling the controls in front of Felix like holding a bone up to a dog.

Felix knew better than to fall for tricks. He knew that every other pilot who had come before him had perished way earlier just by merely pressing one button. He was not about to face the same fate.

Not...until today.

He hadn't had time to think of another solution.

An enemy had caught them unarmed and for the first time ever, knocked Vortex down. No, not even knocked, slammed Vortex down. Hard enough for Felix to feel it.

Sytems fried, a loud buzzing in the back of his head and now, Felix staring up at an alien being, holding a sword over his- Vortex's- their head.

Felix had called for his mecha to wake, but when there wasn't a single stirr in Vortex's body, he'd been forced to grab the controls himself, catching the enemy by suprise and stabbing Vortex's blade through its chest.

The mecha rose at First Aids command. Felix felt his face lift to a grin, something stirring within himself he'd not felt before.

"Haha! Yes!" He squealed almost unintentionally before lifting the blade and pointing it up at the remaining enemies.

"Let's dance!!"

-

Felix sat at the controls. He'd driven the other all the way back to base before he'd shut down the power and just...sat for a while. He'd maybe felt a bit too connected to the mecha. The blood and gore in Vortex's hands had felt so real...too real for Felix's comfort.

He'd sat for long enough before realizing that Vortex stirred. He heard the buzz of systems coming online, the growl of an engine.

"Vortex?" He mumbled, catching himself out of his own daze of thoughts.

Then, the head shook, twisting violently enough to send Felix, unstrapped, falling and tumbling out of his seat.

He sat up quickly. He felt eyes watching him, coldness falling upon the cockpit and then...something dripped on him.

Felix looked up, before looking back to the maw of the beast (the entrance hatch). He saw blood, dripping and soon cascading down from under panels and cracks.

He felt his gut stirr as he quickly rose to his feet, stumbling when he saw blood cover the floor.

"What the fuck-"

He quickly became keenly aware of the space he was now trapped in. The dangerously sharp blades of the fans stirring on the walls, ones he'd picked plenty of fingers out of. The sharp edges of the panels on the roof, somehow able to catch guts, flesh and viscera hanging off the edges.

The floor of the cockpit, now seemingly flooding with blood, staining Felix's suit.

"I'm...sorry? Vortex. I'm sorry." He found himself suddenly speaking. Perhaps it was fright that had forced him to stand still, not sure if the visceral bits of skin and body parts he saw on the walls were real or not.

What the hell?! This thing itself had been begging him to use the controls! Now it was..punishing him for it?

Panic settled in Felix's mind without him even thinking too hard. He had to run, he had to escape.

And that he..tried. Bright red screens watched First Aid back further and further from the entrance, pressing against the wall of the cockpit. No way he could get out the right way, he'd be crushed before he could get through one hatch.

Felix suddenly felt a sharp pain. He twisted and jumped back from the wall, looking down to see what looked like some sort of hook that had sprung out and stabbed into his thigh. (A gap in between his armour).

He let out a painsoaked grunt, pressing a palm over the bleeding spot (He wasnt sure if it was his own blood or not).

A thought came to him. The only other route of escape. Felix limped to the control panel and almost found himself gagging at a pair of hands, torn from the wrists, hanging off of it, rigor mortis the only thing keeping them gripping to the edge of the panel. Everything stank of blood and rust.

He pressed the emergency exit button and turned when he saw a hatch open at the back.

Upon approaching, Felix found that it was just a...chute. An opening at the back of the head that slid down and then opened at the bottom to reveal a fall that was...god knows how long. Vortex was tall.

Felix bit the bullet, grabbing onto the small nooks and cracks inside the chute before starting to climb.

He'd managed to descend about halfway before realizing what kind of a situation he'd just put himself in. Like a prey animal running into a corner, driving itself into the worst possible situation out of sheer panic to escape. The predator had only needed to watch and wait.

Felix let out a stressed "No!" When he saw the hatch below slam shut. The slam of a hatch above made him lose his grip and fall down.

-

It was pitch black, the only illumination inside the escape chute being the small red LEDs lining its walls.

Felix's heart beat louder than the entire mecha. He felt his pulse rush, cold sweat coming down his back.

"Vortex, please"

He called out.

Ch-THUNK!

A hatch slammed shut above him.

Felix's eyes widened at the imminent danger approaching.

Ch-THUNK!

"Vortex" he choked up. He didn't want to die like this. God help the poor sap who would have to dig his crushed and dismantled corpse out of the mechas escape chute.

Ch-THUNK!

Ch-THUNK!

CH-THUNK!

"Vortex!!" He screamed one last time.

It was silent. Felix found himself screaming for a lot longer than he thought.

He

He wasn't dead?

His eyes opened. He was still in darkness, pressed back as down as he could be, against the emergency chute. One last hatch closed barely above his head, upon trying to lift himself, he'd bumped his helmet into it.

Felix then found that he was falling in the blink of an eye as the chute opened again. He couldn't muster out anymore screams, landing on something before he had time to process that he'd fallen in the first place.

A hand. A giant mechanical hand, slowly lifting and bringing him up to a terrifyingly familiar face and then to a dearly familiar scaffolding.

Felix took no hesitation to jump off the hand and land on the scaffolding, stumbling and turning to look back at the giant mecha infront of him.

He panted, falling to his knees when he caught solid ground, watching the bright red glow of the mechas visor.

He turned down to feel his body, his hands trembling from the afterburn of adrenaline. He took off his helmet to feel the cool air brushing over all his senses.

He was alive. His thigh was hurting, but he was alive.

Felix heard a thunk, lifting his head to see that the visor had dimmed. Inside, a bright red glow of a tv screen.

"Did you enjoy it"

it asked, the words read out by a voice inside Felix's head for him. Then the text changed and so did the voices tone, from a mechanical one to sounding more....amused.

"See you tomorrow, First Aid"