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Book Review, © Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
Ryan White had AIDS. He died at the age of 18, in 1990. He became world famous, when the city of Kokomo Indiana (a city which apparently lives in the dark ages) tried to prevent him from going to school. Certainly, the people had legitimate fears. Could they get AIDS from being in the same room with Ryan? Could they get AIDS if he touched them, coughed on them, shared a drinking fountain with him, dined on a plate that he had used and had since been washed? The answer is no. The only known way to get AIDS from a person with the disease, is to get his/her blood into your bloodstream. When is the last time you had someone else's blood in your bloodstream? Mainly, this happens when drug addicts share needles, or when we get a blood transfusion (much much safer now) or something similar, or when homosexuals have anal intercourse. It is possible to get AIDS from normal sex. And hospital workers sometimes accidentally stick themselves with needles from patients. You can get AIDS in other ways, but you are much more likely to get killed by lightning. Ryan was a hemophiliac, a person whose blood does not clot. He got AIDS from the portion of other people's blood that he received to help his own blood to clot.
Rather than find out the facts, the people of Kokomo gave in to fear and hate. One of his neighbors broke into his house and stole the family's Christmas presents. People called Ryan a queer. People called his mother an unfit mother. People spread rumors that Ryan went into supermarkets and coughed and spit on the vegetables. Someone fired a bullet through their living room window. When Ryan went to court, and won the right to go back to school, hundreds of parents took their children out of school. Eventually, Ryan and his family moved away, to a better town. A movie was made about him. Elton John, Michael Jackson, and other celebrities became friends of his. His health went down hill, and he died. This book is in his own words. I wish I had known the kid. He was obviously quite a guy.
Ryan's grave has been vandalized three times. Two boys were arrested after tipping over his headstone, and breaking it. The Ryan White Foundation (for AIDS education and support) has apparently gone broke.
I was surprised that one person was offended by the above review:
I don't believe homosexuals are the only ones having anal sex, nor do I believe they are the only ones to Aids. The way you have that wrote, offends alot of people, noone else must either have the balls or care about calling you out on that. I know the Ryan White story. And I do wish I could have helped him. My boyfriend has Aids, I do not, and he is not gay and he does not accept or give anal sex.
Of course homosexuals are not the only ones having anal sex, and they are not the only ones with AIDS.
To order this book click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).