Corcoran speaks on HIV/AIDS
United Nations delegate gives talk on global AIDS movement

Jon Stewart | copy-editor

On Dec. 1, T. Richard Corcoran, an openly HIV positive AIDS activist and delegate to the Program Coordinating Board of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shed light on his experiences in the global AIDS movement. The talk was held as a round table discussion in the upper room of the Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel. 

Fighting a global pandemic

Corcoran opened his talk with his own reflections and experiences of living in the United States being openly gay as well as HIV positive.  Discussing the earliest cases of AIDS in 1981 while transitioning to modern day, HIV/AIDS is equally as scary on a global scale today as it was in the 1980s, he says.

T. Richard Corcoran (left) hosted a talk on his experiences living with HIV as well as his work globally to fight HIV/AIDS along with Professor Siplon. Jon Stewart, photo

“It was like a death sentence of who is the next gay man to die when they didn’t know what it (HIV/AIDS) was,” Corcoran says. “Today 70 percent of the world can’t get medication and it is just as scary today for a developing country as it was in the 1980s (in the United States).” 

Patricia Siplon, associate professor of political science served on a board of directors with Corcoran for Health Gap, an organization that advocates for global access to affordable medicines for people living with HIV and AIDS. The two have worked together internationally over the past two years on the AIDS pandemic which is why Corcoran was a valuable candidate for the talk, she says. 

Corcoran is a valuable speaker for the AIDS events surrounding St. Michael’s this week because of his desires to go abroad and make a difference in the world, Siplon says.

“In 1999 he (Corcoran) decided on his own to go to an AIDS conference in South Africa,” she says.  “When he did that, he got involved and he is an example of someone that decided on his own to start contributing like crazy.” 

Corcoran says that he first began contributing to the AIDS movement in 2000 when he was working on organizing an AIDS bike ride from Boston to New York. He then found out about an international AIDS conference in South Africa, and got its address from a radio disc jockey, he says.

“I remember reading in The New York Times about how the only reason why South Africa cannot get AIDS medication is because they cannot afford it,” he says.  “After I read this I had to do something. ‘Is that really the only reason why?’”

On a whim, Corcoran decided to buy a plane ticket and fly to South Africa to find out how he could be active in the global AIDS movement, he says.  After unexpectedly arriving at the conference and meeting with AIDS activists, Corcoran became involved with Health Gap, as well as with UNAIDS to help fight AIDS.

Corcoran says that UNAIDS is beneficial because it allows non-governmental organizations to serve on its board of directors, however it can also be frustrating to formulate policy.

“It is hard to accomplish things on UNAIDS because they don’t work on the ground but only guide the world,” he says.  “But activism changes life and even small changes will affect our future.  You don’t have to wave a banner in the streets to make a difference.” 

Waiting on the world to change

Siplon and other members of the St. Michael’s community will be participating in a rally on Saturday, Dec. 7 to address Vermont legislation.  The motive of the rally is to persuade Vermont legislators about ways the United States can help the AIDS pandemic.  The AIDS events of the week leading up to the rally are vehicles to help students aid in the crisis, she says. 

“We want people to think about raising awareness and the effect of what we are doing,” Siplon says.  “But the reason why we are raising awareness is to get people to get involved and make their own decisions.” 

Laurie Gagne, director of the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, attended the talk and says it was interesting because it does not take an AIDS expert to help the cause. 

“It’s really interesting to look at a dedicated AIDS activist and how an ordinary person can make such a difference globally,” Gagne says. 

Junior Cullen Murr also attended the talk and says he thought it was interesting to learn about what it is like to live with HIV or AIDS.

“I feel that I gained a lot of understanding about the AIDS issues but also it was really powerful here from the perspective of someone living with HIV,” Murr says. 

Educating locally to act locally

Corcoran hopes St. Michael’s students will listen to his words and be able to trust themselves to follow their dreams because one’s path in life is a surprise, he says. 

“John Lennon says that life is what happens while you’re making other plans,” Corcoran says.  “Activism was not my way of life, but it’s funny that sometimes life 'winks' at you and sometimes you have to follow these winks.”

Siplon says one her missions for the events on campus surrounding World AIDS Day, is to have students think seriously about the initiative necessary to fight HIV/AIDS globally. 

“It would be fabulous to have St. Michael’s students hear from someone who does great work internationally with grassroots activism,” she says referring to Corcoran. 

The Chapel of St. Michael hosted the event in a round table discussion. Jon Stewart, photo

In order for the future of the AIDS movement to make progress, Corcoran says there needs to be a serious paradigm shift in society as to how it chooses to organize policy globally to fight AIDS.

Corcoran stressed with students that activism does make a difference in the world regardless of what level it is on.  The governments of the world have their own agendas and it is important for non-governmental organizations to be political and fight the battles, he says. 

“We have to remember that fighting for activism does make a difference and we would not have the drugs to fight AIDS today if it were not for such activism; he says.  “This movement is surprisingly small and it does not take a whole lot of change for things to happen.”