Florida: AIDS Activist Welcomes Tourists to "State of Denial"

Earlier this month, Tim McCarron, a Miami-based artist and AIDS activist, was seen parading about Miami's Design District in a T-shirt reading "State of Denial, Welcome," its letters scripted against a spray-painted backdrop of Florida. On the back of his shirt were the words, "HIV AIDS. Souvenirs from sunny Florida." McCarron and his fellow ACT UP members are calling for a gay and tourism boycott of the Sunshine State. Florida, they say, is in a "state of denial." It has the third-highest rate of AIDS infection in the country, and Miami has more reported cases than the entire states of Georgia, Maryland or Massachusetts. Despite these figures, Florida recently cut $10 million from programs including Medicaid's Project AIDS Care Waiver Program, which supported homebound people with the disease.

Two and a half weeks earlier, at the 11th Annual Greater Miami & the Beaches Business Expo and Luncheon, McCarron interrupted the otherwise staid proceedings by hurling accusations at the event's keynote speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush. McCarron demanded to know why cuts had been made. Some money was recently restored to the program, but it went to funding life enhancement initiatives like day trips, instead of personal care. Bush responded that he had done more for AIDS programs than any other Florida administration. But McCarron and his fellow activists say it isn't enough.

McCarron also holds gay and lesbian travelers to task. He believes they should demand that their tourist dollars go toward local AIDS support initiatives. "Instead of lining the pockets of bar, hotel [and] club owners... shouldn't gays look out for other gays that are sick?" McCarron said gay travelers are especially culpable because while on vacation, many do not practice safe sex.

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