With an eye to Sunday's premiere of
HBO's The Normal Heart, singer and AIDS activist Elton John
reminds us that the AIDS crisis is not over.
Director Ryan Murphy's adaptation of
Larry Kramer's Tony-winning play takes a look at the early days of
the AIDS pandemic in New York City.
(Related: Matt
Bomer left his family to prepare for Normal Heart role.)
The Normal Heart is “as
relevant today as an HBO movie as when it premiered on the stage in
New York City in 1985,” John
wrote in a CNN op-ed.
“While The
Normal Heart is a product of a specific time, it is not an
artifact. There is still an AIDS crisis – not only in sub-Saharan
Africa, but right here in America, in your state, in your community.
And, just as in 1985, it is silence, fear and stigma that continues
to drive the epidemic.”
“Today, we know how to protect
everyone, and we have the ability to treat every single person living
with HIV,” continued John, founder of the Elton John AIDS
Foundation. “Yet AIDS continues to prey upon the most vulnerable
in our society: the poor, the incarcerated, sex workers, drug users,
and those living in regions where intolerance and stigma are facts of
life. Today, as ever, silence equals death.”