“—and as an HIV-positive gay man.” The reporters, many of whom had known and covered her brother for years, audibly reacted.
“I, uh, know I’m supposed to use the new vernacular, and all.” Here he ad-libbed a bit. “My daughter told me I’m supposed to say ‘queer,’ but I hope the kids will cut me some slack since I’m forty-five and, let’s just say, this was hard.” The crowd, and their family, twenty deep, assembled on the top of a hill in the park, chuckled. “For many years I kept my sexual orientation a secret, out of fear. Fear of disappointing my family, fear of falling short of expectations of my culture, fear of rejection from my constituents.
“The keeping of this secret prevented me from having closer ties with my daughter, my sister, my community. It kept me from earnestly pursuing love. So, when I was recently diagnosed with HIV, I realized I could not keep my orientation or my status secret any longer. There was too much at risk.
“Now, I know I’ve been on the scene here in New York since before y’all had websites, but here is something that very few people know: in 1994 we lost my father, Johnny Acevedo, to AIDS. He was an IV drug user and he was one of forty-one thousand people who died in America that year of HIV/AIDS, more than half of whom were Black or, as my daughter also tells me I should say, Latinx. Today, although the number of people who perish from this disease is thankfully low, Black and Latinx people—especially men like me—account for nearly seventy percent of the HIV-positive population in the United States, and that number is on the rise. I didn’t think that I could properly address this issue from my place in the closet.
“Nor did I want a secret such as this looming over me as we head into this absolutely critical twenty-eighteen mid-term election, a year when I will be running again, and, with the support of party leadership, helping to flip some seats!”
At this, as practiced, Olga and the family cheered and a number of the reporters started to ask questions: about his health, if he thought this might affect his chances at reelection, but he kept going. This concluded the portion that Olga had written with him, the rest was platform and policy, which, though she had a vague notion of what he’d planned to say, she’d left to him. She could see that now, with the worst of it over, he was relaxing into his element.
“I promise I’ll answer your questions in a moment, but I just need to let you all know why I’m finna to keep this seat! When we won the popular vote but lost the election in twenty-sixteen, more than three million American voices were silenced, but none more so than those of the poor and working class in our cities, and especially people of color. Families who, like my own, help to make their urban centers run, only to find their efforts to get by crushed by gentrification. We see it here in New York, here in Sunset Park, but this is afflicting people across this country. San Francisco, Chicago, all around Hawaii, and, of course, in Puerto Rico. In my next term I plan to roll out legislation that will, at the federal level, combat rising housing costs, hyper-development, and real estate tax breaks that allow people to buy into our cities while giving nothing to our schools, hospitals, or transportation.”
At this, the crowd cheered. The subways were abysmal, though since her brother always drove, he had no idea.
“I want to close lending loopholes that allow landlords to benefit from empty storefronts, which incentivize high rent and deincentivize small and mid-sized business. And, of course, I will continue to push back on the cronyism that is hobbling recovery in Puerto Rico. The island is in darkness while the president’s friends and family reap billions in contracts. So, this is, you can say, my official reelection kickoff announcement. And now I’m happy to take your questions, of which I suspect you’ll have many!”
Was he dating anyone? （No, but he had a crush on someone. Which was news to Olga.） Had he been on PrEP? （No, and while he had no sound excuse, given the blessing of his congressional health insurance, everyone should recognize the cost barrier often presented to low-income people when it came to drugs like PrEP.） How was his health? （Fantastic! He wanted to fight for everyone to have healthcare as good as he got.） Was it hard to tell his family? （Yes, but as you could see, they were fully supportive, most especially his daughter and his sister.） Did he have any thoughts about Reggie Reyes’s announcement that he was opening a solar panel production facility in P.R. in the coming year? （Sounds like jobs and green energy. What’s not to like?） What were his views on the recent scandal involving several of his congressional colleagues receiving kickbacks from the Selby brothers? （He would let his colleagues speak for themselves, but the Selby scandal is just indicative of the unruly power and influence that private and corporate wealth have wielded in our government since Citizens United.）