I’m in Yosemite National Park, but just learned that former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms has died at the age of 86. I am not sad.

Helms did more damage to the gay rights movement than any other single person I can think of in the Senate. One particular piece of legislation Helms is responsible for is his infamous HIV travel ban, known as the "Helms Amendment" which outlawed people with HIV from visiting the United States or immigrating to the United States. The U.S. is now one of only 13 nations including Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia and Sudan that ban HIV positive visitors and immigrants. That law, however, is on its last legs because a Senate panel just approved a move to repeal it.

I think a great way for all LGBT people to “honor” Jesse Helms at this moment is to make sure that this law is repealed. We cannot allow a pause due to reflection or “respect.” So call your Congressmen and Senators and tell them that the HIV ban must go and you support the PEPFAR legislation which removes the HIV travel and immigration ban. We need to make sure that Helms’ death accelerates this repeal rather than slows it down.

http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchr...

Wow. When I found that post after doing a quick search to refresh my memory of how much of a total shit Jesse Helms was, it was a fresh 18 minutes old. And written by someone on vacation for the holiday. If anything, I hope some of you can appreciate how quickly the LGBT community is going to respond to this news.

Before the weeping and gnashing of teeth begins over the inevitable complaints that I am "grave-dancing" and not respecting the peace that his family deserves during this mourning period, can you if for just one moment consider the incalculable number of families this man's actions have destroyed? I can easily feel sympathy for his family at their loss (I'm not dead inside), but can also concurrently despise this man and not feel one shred of sadness at his passing.

The law banning people living with HIV or AIDS from entering the United States was introduced by Sen. Helms as an amendment to the bill to pay temporarily for AZT for persons with AIDS who had no other way to afford it. Think about that for a moment. While Sen. Helms was negotiating a way to prevent people from entering this country, people already living in the United States were dying because they couldn't afford medication that would have at that time maybe given them an extra 6-9 months to live.