AIDS

Dr. Peter puts a human face on AIDS

HERE WAS a time
not long ago when

T Peter wouldn‘t have

felt welcome as a
homosexual man walking
into a North Vancouver
church.

By Elizabeth Collings
News Reporter

But last Saturday, Peter (who
has AIDS and has requested that
his last name not be published)
did just that in order to talk
openly to a North Shore au-
dience about issues surrounding
AIDS, homosexuality, death and
dying.

And, in an interview with the
News, he says he felt very wel-
come and very much included.

“It’s a nice feeling,’’ Peter
says, reflecting on his reception
at Saint Martin's Anglican
Church.

In fact, the 33-year-old doc-
tor, who graduated from a
North Vancouver high school,
was asked after the conference
by four priests to speak to their
congregations.

Speaking to groups is some-
thing that Peter is becoming ac-
customed to. He and his cons-
tant companion Harvey, a black
lab seeing-eye dog, are gaining
celebrity status as a result of
Peter’s spots on CBC-TV’s even-
ing news each Wednesday.

Peter says he is often ap-
proached by strangers who want
to thank him for his personal
on-air accounts of what it is like
to have AIDS.

He speaks to medical students,
nurses, doctors, high school stu-
dents and now, increasingly, the
church, as it takes up the
challenge of addressing AIDS at
the community level.

With this high profile, Peter
has begun, for many, to repre-
sent the human face of the
disease.

. He says that by giving people
a “‘personal scenario” about
AIDS, they are often provoked
into thinking about ar issue they
wouldn't normally consider or
might object to on moral
grounds.

“It’s a matter of exposing
people to people with AIDS and
the variety of people who might
be affected and the ever-increas-
5 EEE [AEE nlc

44 1 still think, to a large
degree, they (the
provincial government)
still see it only as a threat
to that hell-bound faction
of society that includes
homosexuals, drug addicts
and prostitutes, and they
figure the province would
be better off without
them anyway. 99

Teachers’ job

From page 2
can’t drop our kids off early and
pick them up early.

‘*The teachers can afford to do
that because they go to work at
8:30 and quit at 3:30. lt doesn’t
affect them. { think it’s complete-
ly unfair.”

NVSB chairman Marg Jessup
agreed that parents are being hit

44 /n some cases you
almost have to hit
(parents) over the head
with a hammer, and
sometimes that hammer,
sadly, comes in the form
of one of their children
coming home with
AIDS. 99

ing numbers for whom it’s
becoming a concern,’” he says.

While many people have
responded to Peter's message
with deeper thoughts about
AIDS, Peter says some people
never get the message.

‘Inevitably you're going to
Tun into people who are going to
say ‘I know my kids and they’re
not having sex,’ or, ‘I’m not
sending my kid to a school that
has condom-dispensing machines
in the washrooms.’ It’s often
difficult to make inroads with
those people.”

Peter says there are two things
known about AIDS: it’s preven-
table and, so far, it’s incurable.

**We have to focus on the fact
that it’s preventable and start
educating people,’’ he says.

But even if people agree that
public education is needed, he
says they often continue to resist
it because they still think AIDS
is a homosexual disease.

Peter also says talking about
AIDS involves taiking about sex,
which some adults don’t like.

“In order to discuss AIDS and
in order to educate and prevent
it, we’ve got to talk about sex,
and we’ve got to talk about sex
to those people who are not yet
sexually active or who are just
becoming sexually active, and
that means kids and teenagers,
and there’s a lot of people who
are uncomfortable with doing
that."”

Peter says he doesn’t disagrec
with people telling young adults
to abstain from having sex, but
he says young people should be
given the facts about AIDS so
they can make ‘‘wise choices."’

Unfortunately, those who
deny the reality of their
children’s sexuality may learn
the hard way, he says.

‘*In some cases you almost
have to hit the 1 over the head
with a hamm-r, and sometimes
that hammer, sadly, comes in
the form of one of their children
coming home with AIDS.”

Education about AIDS is the
responsibility of the provincial
government, but it is a responsi-
bility they are not taking on,
Peter says.

““T still think, to a large
degree, they still see it only as a
threat to that hell-bound faction
of society that includes
homosexuals, drug addicts and

Friday, January 18, 1991 - North Shore News - 3

NEWS photo Nell Lucente

PETER TELLS his story Saturday to an audience of 125 at
Saint Martin's Anglican Church in North Vancouver. The 33-
year-old doctor, who has AIDS, is encouraging the church
community to become involved in the battle against the in-

curable disease.

AIDS on the North Shore

THE NUMBER of AIDS cases on the North Shore is climbing.

Provincial statistics reveal:

© The North Shore has 35 known AIDS cases to date;

© Between February and September of 1990 the number of North
Shore AIDS cases jumped from 23 to 35;

* A total of 36 new cases of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) posi-
tive have been tested on the North Shore in 1989 and 1990;

@ In 1989, 22 out of 1,127 tests on the North Shore were HIV posi-
tive; in 1990, 14 people on the North Shore tested HIV positive out

of 1,213 tests;

2 The North Shore has the second highest number of AIDS cases in
the Lower Mainland and the third highest in the province;
¢ There are no out-patient clinics for AIDS patients on the North

Shore;

© There are no support groups for AIDS patients and their families

on the North Shore.

A,

prostitutes, and they figure the
province would be better off
without them anyway.”’

The provincial government’s
attitude, he says, forces churches
and community groups to ad-
dress the problem.

At the conference, Peter says
he challenged the audience to
embrace the concept of in-
clusiveness. a basic tenet of
Christianity. He admits that
when he was younger he rejected
the church almost before it could
reject him.

“By the time | was confirmed
in the church I pretty well knew
where I] was atin terms of my
sexuality and basically didn’t
want to be faced with this nega-
tive — how can I put this — be-

action hits parents hardest

hard by the teachers’ job action.

She said she was surprised the
action was legal.

“Tt is very hard on parents,
there's no question about that.
We're surprised that while talks
are still going on that they're tak-
ing any kind of action,’ said
Jessup. ‘*ht's surprised us, and
there’s not a thing we can do

about tt.”’

She added that the board was
“‘working as hard as we can’’ to
negotitate a collective agreement
with the union,

Meanwhile, contract talks are
continuing between the West Van-
couver District 45 School Board
and the 300-member West Vun-
couver Teachers’ Association.

ing toid who | was was wrong or
sinful. It’s kind of: ‘I'm getting
the impression I'm being rejected
so [*m rejecting you.’ I think
that’s very common.”*

Since then, Peter has become
friends with Rev. Neil Gray, the
former chaplain at St. Paul’s
Hospital.

“Tnitially [ thought he was a
bit of an anomaly — it was sim-
ply the circumstances of working
at St. Paul’s Hospital that got
him involved in this.... But I
think the fact that the church
took the trouble to organize this
(Saturday's) conference says a
lot and shows that they're work-
ing to increase they’re under-
standing and involvement. [t's
great."”

Anglican forum
targets AIDS
in the community

ETER, A former
North Vancouver
resident, AIDS vic-

tim and the subject of a
popular CBC-TV news
series, was the keynote
speaker at an AIDS con-
ference held last Saturday
on the North Shore.

By Anna Marie D’Angelo
Contributing Writer

The 33-year-old doctor has
become widely known for his
“diary” instalments about the
impact of AIDS on his day-to-
day life shown regularly on
CBC-TV news.

He graduated from a high
school in North Vancouver and
now resides in Vancouver.

Peter, who recently became
blind because of the disease,
spoke to approximately 125
people taking part in the one-day
Aids in Our Comniunity con-
ference held at St. Martin’s An-
glican Church in North Van-
couver.

The church and The Stewards
in Action Program of the
Diocese of New Westminster
sponsored the event, which in-
cluded sessions on spiritual
issues, death and dying and the
costs of AIDS.

Conference organizer Rev.
John Bailey said the event was
held, in part, because of the
wrong assumption that someone
else was handling religious
ministry to AIDS victims. Bailey
also wanted to put a “human
face on AIDS.”

Peter discovered he had AIDS
in 1986, two months after he
started a medical career that had
involved nine years of university.

He said his parents, who live
on the North Shore, did not
know he was gay, and when they
found out about the fatal disease
along with his homosexuality, iz
came as a ‘‘double whammy.”’

During Peter’s one-hour tatk,
which was broken up with occa-
sional laughter and applause
from the audience, the doctor
discussed the need to tell young
people about ‘‘safer sex’’ (con-
dom use) in hopes they make
wise decisions before establishing
sexual patterns.

“AIDS is preventable and |
AIDS is not curable. The one
thing to do is educate, educate,
educate — that’s three things to
do,”” he said.

Health economist David
Schreck said there are 400 active
AIDS cases in B.C., and he said
that statistics showed AIDS is
not a cost threat to the health-
care system. The North Shore
has 35 known cases of AIDS,
the third highest total in B.C.

“It may be a cost threat 55
years from now if we don't face
a moral challenge and try te
prevent AIDS,” said Schreck.

index

@ Home & Garden
@ Mailbox

@ Paul St. Pierre
@ What's Going On

Weather

Friday, cloudy with chance of showers. Saturday, cloudy with
sunny periods. Low, 0°C: high, 6°C.
Second Class Registration Number 3885

@ Automotives........... 21
@ Classified Ads
@ Ecolnfo