Singer Elton John told attendees at the
AIDS 2012 Conference in Washington D.C. that he should be dead from
AIDS like Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and actor Rock Hudson.
“By all rights, I shouldn't be here
today. I should be dead. Six feet under in a wooden box. I should
have contracted HIV in the 1980's and died in the 1990's just like
Freddie Mercury, just like Rock Hudson. Just like so many friends
and loved ones of yours and mine,” Sir Elton John said.
“Every day I wonder: How did I
survive?”
“I don't know the answer and I never
will, but I do know why I'm here. I'm here to deliver to you and
anyone who will listen the message that saved my life. The message
that can save millions of lives, if we put it to practice.”
“No matter who you are or who you
love, no matter where you live or how you live, no matter what you
have or haven't done, everyone deserves compassion. Everyone
deserves dignity. Everyone, everyone, everyone deserves love.”
Sir Elton, whose Elton John AIDS
Foundation gives away $18 million a year, said the AIDS epidemic is
“fueled by stigma, by hate, by misinformation, by ignorance, by
indifference.”
“Yes, I hope and pray that we will
all discover a vaccine, we all do. But we won't get that vaccine to
those in need if governments shun their most marginalized citizens.
That is why compassion is critical. That is why love is the cure.”
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