By Fernando Martinez
15 Jul 2024, 06:00 AM EDT
The Hispanic community in New York lost one of the most important activists in the advancement of the LGBTQ+ community, the rights of trans people, and the promotion and treatment of HIV. Venezuelan Gerardo Pineda, who was part of the team of the Latino Commission on AIDS, turned his positive diagnosis with this virus into a powerful and personal impulse to help thousands of Hispanics.
For more than 30 years, he dedicated his life in the Big Apple to guiding newly infected people on how to turn this difficult experience into fuel to continue living, with an optimistic view of the future.
In an interview with El Diario in 2019, Pineda shared that when he was still living in Venezuela in the 1990s, he faced a physical deterioration due to the presence of several opportunistic infections associated with HIV. He was able to overcome that stage, emigrated to New York and immediately became part of the emotional foundation of the Vida Positiva workshop at the Oasis Center in Manhattan, which offers those affected strategies to improve their quality of life.
The activist has witnessed for decades how New York has created great barriers to the virus. From campaigns for the use of condoms, to pre-prophylaxis treatments, known as PrEP, which prevent a person from becoming infected, to modern antiretrovirals that allow HIV-positive people to reduce their viral load to a minimum, and consequently not be able to transmit it.
“Gerardo never knew what meanness was. He fought so that Hispanics could overcome many stigmas with dignity. In addition, he was always concerned about how the trans community was rejected mainly by gays themselves,” said those who were part of his work team.
The great legacy left by this migrant is the capacity for resilience, which can appear after the fateful news of a diagnosis and transform it into a tool to support their peers.
“Thirty years ago, when I was diagnosed as a carrier of this virus, I was almost given a death sentence. I am very satisfied that all this time has passed, I have been able to stay healthy and I have helped many people to say: get up, this is not a big deal anymore,” he said in several conversations with this newspaper.
The Latino Commission on AIDS is organizing a virtual memorial for this Friday, July 19 at 5:00 PM
Rest in peace
1964-2024