2008 Woodie Awards
Queerly Yours
Gerry Blakney
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Post
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My cousin Kip came in and out of my life quite frequently. He was much more than the occasional cousin whom you'd see only on holidays or when someone was married or died. Kip was terribly exotic because he lived in a terribly far off town that was the size of New York City and brighter than the Las Vegas strip in my young mind.
Kip dressed unlike all my other Montana-relatives. He had exotic friends and ate food other than beef. He was so wonderfully different that I immediately placed him in a different, more special category than any of my other relatives. I literally counted-down the days till I would get to hang out with my cousin next.
I was nine when my cousin became sick.
I was fairly young at the time and didn't understand what that meant. I thought it was the cold, or perhaps worse, pneumonia. All I knew was that it turned my quaint, rural family upside down.
Over the years AIDS took its toll, his condition worsened and the family slowly stopped visiting him. The last time I visited him I was eleven. Kip had lost all of his body weight. His eyes were sunken-in. Only the nurses were allowed to touch him because his skin was too fragile.
I will never forget that image. It is burnt into my eyes as if I had stared into the sun. The smell was unimaginable. As I write this I can still see him, dying, laying there struggling to breathe, not even conscious of the visiting family members.
I don't know whether Kip was gay. I know you were wondering and I honestly don't think so. I have asked myself many, many times and the conclusion that I've come to it doesn't matter.
On June 5, 1981 human Immuno deficiency virus (HIV) and the aquired Immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized. Since that date untill now roughly 33 million people live with HIV/AIDS (two and a half of which are children) and three million will contract HIV/AIDS this year alone. It is projected that 12 million AIDS orphans currently live in Africa.
Kip dressed unlike all my other Montana-relatives. He had exotic friends and ate food other than beef. He was so wonderfully different that I immediately placed him in a different, more special category than any of my other relatives. I literally counted-down the days till I would get to hang out with my cousin next.
I was nine when my cousin became sick.
I was fairly young at the time and didn't understand what that meant. I thought it was the cold, or perhaps worse, pneumonia. All I knew was that it turned my quaint, rural family upside down.
Over the years AIDS took its toll, his condition worsened and the family slowly stopped visiting him. The last time I visited him I was eleven. Kip had lost all of his body weight. His eyes were sunken-in. Only the nurses were allowed to touch him because his skin was too fragile.
I will never forget that image. It is burnt into my eyes as if I had stared into the sun. The smell was unimaginable. As I write this I can still see him, dying, laying there struggling to breathe, not even conscious of the visiting family members.
I don't know whether Kip was gay. I know you were wondering and I honestly don't think so. I have asked myself many, many times and the conclusion that I've come to it doesn't matter.
On June 5, 1981 human Immuno deficiency virus (HIV) and the aquired Immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized. Since that date untill now roughly 33 million people live with HIV/AIDS (two and a half of which are children) and three million will contract HIV/AIDS this year alone. It is projected that 12 million AIDS orphans currently live in Africa.
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