About a third of the passengers killed on the Malaysian flight that was shot down yesterday were on their way to an international AIDS conference. They were scientists, researchers and activists, some of whom have already changed and saved thousands of lives with their work.
Bryan Fischer - the head of the American Family Association - is mad that Barack Obama acknowledged that. Hereâs what Obama said (which, no, YOUâRE tearing up reading it!)
Let me close by making one additional comment. On board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 there were apparently near 100 researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combating AIDS/HIV. These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence.
In this world today we shouldnât forget that in the midst of conflict and killing, there are people like these, people who are focused on what can be built rather than what can be destroyed, people who are focused on how they can help people that theyâve never met, people that define themselves not by what makes them different from other people but by the humanity that we hold in common. Itâs important for us to lift them up and to affirm their lives. And itâs time for us to heed their example.
The United States of America is going to continue to stand for the basic principle that people have the right to live as they choose, that nations have the right to determine their own destiny, and that when terrible events like this occur, the international community stands on the side of justice and on the side of truth.
Wonkette did a roundup of some of the medical advancements the people on that plane helped create, including antiretrovirals to reduce mother-child spread of HIV/AIDS and access to treatment in developing nations. And of course, theyâve affected the lives of millions of gay men who have contracted the disease. Who are just as worthy of medical care as anyone else. Who were ignored by Reagan when the HIV outbreak first happened, which actually made the disease spread farther and faster before anyone knew how it was transmitted. Who are motherfucking human beings, much to the dismay of the American Family Association.
Obviously we all knew the AFA was a piece of shit. In case you were wondering - since itâs been a while since we heard from them, what with same-sex marriage getting legalized in a new state every week or so - in case you were wondering whether they were still homophobic pieces of shit, yes, yes they are.
