Florida: AIDS Fight also Battle on Taboos

Denise Pinkus takes her medication and, after nine years, her HIV infection has not turned into AIDS. In that time, the Hollywood, Fla., pharmacy technician also became the first Hispanic woman to routinely talk publicly about her condition in South Florida, where Latina heterosexuals are increasingly at risk for HIV/AIDS.

Pinkus, 49, of Venezuela, is among 17,138 Hispanics living in Florida with HIV/AIDS, of whom 16.3 percent are women, according to the state Department of Health. It's a sadly common story among Hispanic women with the virus -- Pinkus contracted it from her husband, who died of AIDS in 1994.

"The majority of the women in the Hispanic community who are HIV-positive are [infected] through heterosexual contact," said Dr. Michael Kolber, associate chief of infectious diseases at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Nationwide, nearly half of all AIDS cases affecting Hispanic women stem from heterosexual contact, according to the CDC. Women comprise 19 percent of the nation's 145,220 AIDS cases among Hispanics, but in 2000 alone, accounted for 23 percent of new cases reported, according to the CDC.

"I think the taboo is still in talking about sex, and because HIV is [an STD], they don't want to talk about it, either," she said. "There's still a lot of rejection in the community, the fear of losing your job." Pinkus sued for discrimination after she lost her job at a Miami shoe manufacturer when it learned of her husband's disease in 1994. The case was settled out of court.

Pinkus is president of Union Positiva's board of directors and active in AIDS education. She has told her story in support groups, educational videos, panel discussions and conferences nationwide. She would like to help other Hispanic women become assertive and move past the machismo of their culture, where men often refuse to wear condoms, she said. "The Hispanic woman is used to leaving all the decisions up to her husband," Pinkus said. "They have to learn to take control of their own lives and make their own decisions for themselves."

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