Will NM follow Cuba’s lead here
AFTER A 20-year career stint in the Midwest, retirement has led to the satisfaction of my wife’s fondest desire — return to and retirement in Albuquerque. It hasn’t been a month yet, but I’m already questioning our mutual decision. My level of angst went way up (July 26) with the belowthe-fold headline, “Alliance proposes homeless solution.”
Several years ago, I co-led a student group to Havana, Cuba. One of our number was a young man who was gay and bipolar. Through the intensive commitment of his long-suffering but supportive family and public support services, my group member was able to manage the bipolarity and accomplish excellent academic performance. I’ll call him Troy, for privacy purposes. (He) was quite concerned about the efforts the Cuban government had undertaken to achieve what I recall as being the lowest AIDS infection rate in the Western Hemisphere. Cuba touted it as a humane and highly effective illustration of its globally renowned medical service provision system. It appears to be the model the local Greater Albuquerque Business Alliance is proposing.
Troy was concerned because Cuba effectively put the entire national gay community in one locale in the city of Havana with a set of justifications built around the provision of medical, social and housing services in the most affordable manner given the country’s limited fiscal resources. It was also viewed by the Cuban social engineers and doctors who discussed it with our group as being the most socially responsive strategy given the oppositional desires to treat and limit the spread of AIDS, and the broader social distaste for homosexuals. Troy countered that this approach meant that gay people were relegated to a sort of soft concentration camp. Because the meds and therapies were only available from one specialist medical facility without any reasonable alternatives available, Troy contended that the government was succeeding in rounding up and isolating a specific group, which then would have little recourse or appeal if government attitudes and policies were to change and become hostile. For the rest of the nation, AIDS had rapidly become “out-of-sight-out of-mind.”
The West Mesa is not quite as hot as Havana year round, and it’s a dry heat. A homeless concentration — uh, assistance and rehabilitation — facility might be just the ticket for a greater Albuquerque. Hola Nuevo Mexico.