20 Years of Magic: How One Man's HIV Disclosure Inspired Others
From TheBody.com
November 2, 2011
8/12
Becky Allen, New York City, N.Y.; Site Manager for TheBody.com
People still sometimes ask me: "Where were you for Magic Johnson's announcement?" It isn't exactly a "Where were you when JFK was shot?" moment for my generation, but I remember. Well, sort of remember. My class was sitting in the bleachers of the school gym and the physical education teacher told us. I don't know if it was a special assembly or just something that happened in gym class, and I doubt any of us particularly understood what it meant, but we all knew who Magic Johnson was, we knew AIDS was dangerous, and we knew that it was A Big Deal.
Comment by: Jak
(Columbia, SC)
Thu., Dec. 29, 2011 at 11:29 am EST
My son is homosexual and my greatest fear is that one day he will call me and announce that he has contracted HiV/AIDs. My prayer for all these precious people is that a cure may be found and they would live a long and healthy life.
Comment by: patrick
(ny)
Wed., Nov. 30, 2011 at 5:58 pm EST
I got tested around that time at a Dr's office on 14th st.and 9th ave. The Dr. made each person listen to a tape about HIV and how you could get it. The Tape stated "And don't believe any statement by "Magic Johnson" that he got it from a woman. I don't know if Magic ever came out with any statement to the contrary, but at the time, according to the Dr. there was nobody on record who got it from a woman. I was negative as he had predicted. I went because I visited prostitutes. He told me at that time most prostitutes wanted to only perform oral sex, because they couldn't get it like that as long as their were no skin breaks in their mouth or lips. Prostitutes who did get HIV from oral sex were crack addicts who burned off skin in their mouths. The saddest thing about that day, I remember telling me he had a young 19 year old girl who had come in the day before who tested positive. How horrible. The Dr. told me that the biggest majority of those tested were homosexuals who didn't heed the warnings about unprotected sex, due to drinking or the heat of passion.
Comment by: Sam
Sun., Jan. 15, 2012 at 8:59 pm EST "Only homosexuals get HIV", and "they only get it when they don't heed OUR warnings", coupled with "I safely barebacked a prostitute" and "prostitutes are safe if they don't smoke crack". Thank you for that riveting display of idiocy and serophobia. The world is now worse for your contribution. ++ good thebody.com. Any idea which island you wanna send us to while you're at it?
Comment by: Sherri Lewis
(Los Angeles, CA)
Thu., Nov. 3, 2011 at 9:46 pm EDT
Bravo to my fellow bloggers. I read them all. One thing I'd like to add about Magics disclosure not to take away that it was brave to come out publicly with his status but he had to come out a head of the press so at least he had some control over the information. The same situation for Arthur Ashe.
Comment by: Olivia
(@TheBody.com)
Thu., Nov. 3, 2011 at 10:19 am EDT Clicking 'Print Friendly' in the small toolbar at the top-right-hand corner of the article page should do it. :-) Enjoy!
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