Out in the Mountains (fromprecedingpage) through it too." While his words were spo- ken in a moment of anger and frustration, they illustrate how deeply the division is felt at times. To resent the AIDS epidemic for tak- ing away resources that we need to work on other issues is not an entirely inappropriate reaction, but it is easy to slip from that point to resenting people with HIV. Yet for a person with HIV, all too often the rest of the gay community is viewed as surprisingly complacent and unresponsive. Sometimes HIV negative men are made to feel that they have nothing to contribute to the fight against AIDS other than their money. When a well-meaning volunteer is told that "You just can't under- stand," the sentiment is based in a certain reality, but the feeling of rejection for trying to get involved is palpable. Yet equally often, seronegative men are just plain insensitive to the realities of life with HIV. Those who live day to day with the virus have developed an expertise that needs to be respected and used, yet all too often their real life experience is pushed aside in favor of experts with titles and degrees. Everyone in the field needs to struggle with the question of how people with AIDS and HIV can be involved in a meaningful decision-making and policy capacity. I could go on about the other ways in gay men are being separated by HIV status: how both positive and negative men can pressure those who haven't been tested with missionary zeal, how surviving partners are denied much of the support they need, how fears of our own mortality have driven us apart when we need to be together...but you get the picture. The question is not whether these fis- sures exist, but rather how we will deal with them. The first step must be to acknowl- edge them, and to begin dialogue about them. Here in Vermont we are fortunate — the epidemic is not at the point it is in many large cities where such issues are being forced, at times violently and unpleasantly, to the surface. We need to begin to talk about it — formally and informally, in groups and among friends, in AIDS organi- zations and gay organizations. Those dis- cussions need to be honest, open, and thoughtful. After all, as the slogan says, "We are all living with AIDS.” As long as gay men have HIV and AIDS, our entire community must deal with it — together. AIDS 1-IOTLINEIS: vVermon't: 1~800f-882-2437 New I-Ia‘rnpshire ’‘ 1-800-752-2437 7NeW —Y0)fk State 1 -8(X)-541-2437 Q ;:Mass_ach1rsettS ;1€617-5,22-4090 ' ,Maine ' 1-800-851-2437 — Nafional‘ V I’-8(X)v-342-2437 Canadian _ §§_1"—6l3-563$-2437 ACT-UP Vermont 1_-‘__’OfBDX'160.7*‘ . ~- .Bur1i:;igfton VT 505492 W Action‘ Project.’ (AC P) - ’ - - '- ‘c/E;“C3a1édo:;ié‘Heme HjéalthAgencjy ' P 'PO.B032ms2s; . ‘PO‘B'oxf40‘ - _v 5 . H Brattleboro AIDS Project PO Box‘ 2403 V . I 4 High Street,,Suit'e,2-3- Bra__t_tleboro‘VT; 05301 - V (802) 254~4444:§,(He1p1ine) .- (802) 254-3263 _(O£ti’jc:é)v VVFrankfin-Grmdvlsle.-AIDS Taskmrce ..8FerrisS.t_reet " " _ St-I .A1ba_n5 VT» (802)524-6554 . -‘ (I%Iolistic?=Ediic"a't'1jorr a_' Montiie Newpo ..c1!v=