One Day at a Time
by
Jeffrey Lee Williams, Jr.
by
Jeffrey Lee Williams, Jr.
Jeffrey has been our social commentator almost from the inception of the newsletter in 2003. It wasn't planned that way, but it has worked out that way. We can always count on Jeffrey to come up with an interesting slant on the issues as concerns glbt persons, and this essay is no different. Please contact Jeffrey to let him know what you think. Contact
Indeed there was something wrong with the picture. Along with the beautiful specimen that Eric was looking at, underneath the façade lay a terrible secret. Due to a rape eight months earlier, Marvin had just been diagnosed with HIV. It was autumn 1994 and even though it was just ten years ago and not twenty years ago, there were still many fears about the illness. Eric recalls finding out the news. “I finally got up the nerve to ask him to dance with me. He said yes and later that night, needless to say, I went with him back to his place. We began to make out on the bed, ripped each others clothes off and I reached into my wallet for a condom. As I pulled it out, Marvin grabbed my wrist and told me that he had something to tell me.” Marvin continues: “I was so scared but I had been through this before and I knew what to expect. So, I just took a deep breath and blurted it out.”
With one big breath, Marvin told Eric that he had HIV. Eric understandably paused, asked a bunch of questions and explained to Marvin that he was OK with it and that he wanted to pursue any relationship that may be possible in the future. Within the last ten years, the couple has undergone major catastrophes including: Marvin being brutally beaten and raped at a party in Boston in 1996, in 1997, Eric and Marvin were in a car accident that left Eric with a huge gash on his right thigh and slurred speech, blurred vision in his left eye, and poor circulation. In 1999, Marvin lost his mother to cancer and was disowned by his anti-gay father after being beaten by his father and his uncle Bruce. In 2001, the couple was on vacation in France when their luggage was lost including their passport, money and travelers checks; thus, after 9/11, leaving the couple stranded for six weeks. Last year, Eric was hospitalized and in a coma for 28 days after an aneurysm in his head burst unexpectedly.
Today the couple looks back on their tragedies and laugh. “It’s like the anti-gay gods have tried everything in their power to keep us apart or make us weak. All (they) have done was make us stronger.” Although today Marvin’s condition has upgraded to AIDS, he remains healthy and strong and determined to beat this illness. Eric still suffers with a speech impediment but continues his therapy and refuses to stay at home and collect disability. The two just put money down on their first home together in Ocean Township, NJ and plan on moving in together by January’s end. In the light of everything that has gone wrong for Eric and Marvin, the one thing that has never changed is their love and devotion for each other. That is stronger; it seems, than any negative cosmic destiny.