seeing this image on facebook.
the woman on the bottom? (in the
award-winning photograph?) her name is maria. she's from the ukraine, which has the highest rates of hiv/aids in europe. she is a sex worker and intravenous drug user. when the photo was taken she was believed to be hiv- but i think since she has found out she is hiv+ (from what little i've read - not 100% sure). most people with aids in the ukraine die while waiting for access to treatment, and people there face much more stigma than even people in the us and canada.
if she lived in canada, she would be no more able to donate blood than the (presumably) monogamous, white, middle/upper class gay couple on the top. in canada and the u.s., if you have ever had sex for money, you cannot donate blood. she also has much less access to jobs, health care, money, and resources, and she faces at least as much if not more discrimination in her day to day life.
much of the comment thread on this ad talked about how disgusting maria is.
poor sex workers from eastern european countries are not props to be used in hateful ads for middle/upper class monogamous gay folks' campaigns for "equality." period. end of fucking story.
on top of that, the implied erasure of poor queer sex workers, who are sometimes intravenous drug users, who sometimes are also hiv+ (some of whom are my dear friends) pisses me the fuck off. at the very least this ad creates a "good/bad" dichotomy that further marginalizes sex workers, drug users, and people living with hiv, queer or not.
and on top of that,
the entire premise is a lie.