A Tribute to Senator Kennedy, Champion of People Living with HIV/AIDS
I will always remember Ted Kennedy as he stood in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1968 delivering the eulogy for his brother Robert. In describing his brother, he quoted George Bernard Shaw, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and say why not”. His voice cracked but he stood tall and shouldered that legacy until his death. The broad shoulders that had made him a star Harvard football player would bear not only the responsibility for his entire family, but the burdens of all those in America who were denied the rights guaranteed to them by our forefathers in the Declaration of Independence.
Senator Ted Kennedy dreamed of an America where all those who lived here had access to quality affordable health care. He asked why Blacks and Latinos were not full partners and in the leadership of government, business, and professional services. He asked why the richest country in the world allowed children to go to bed hungry at night and return to substandard schools the next day. He asked why we did not honor and care for our elderly. And for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people he demanded equal rights and fair treatment. Senator Kennedy didn’t just dream and ask why not, he sponsored and passed hundreds of pieces of legislation that truly made life better for the underprivileged, hungry, poor and generally forgotten members of our society.
His work on HIV/AIDS was the culmination of many of these efforts. As the Senator said in 2008, “If America was really going to be America, the real unfinished business of the nation is freeing itself from the forms of discrimination and bigotry that have grown up in this nation.” This was at the core of all of his many battles over legislation to address the needs of those living with HIV/AIDS. (Read on …)
