AIDS-activist Melissa Marsh delivered a frank speech about her experience with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to more than 400 students packed into Collis Common Ground last night.
Marsh, 21, said she is heterosexual and contracted the AIDS virus about one and a half years ago from her boyfriend at that time.
Since discovering she is HIV-positive, Marsh said she has actively fought against the spread of the virus by working with those suffering from AIDS and giving educational talks.
Marsh tried to make students aware of the dangers involved in having sex.
"If you don't feel comfortable about having sex with someone who is HIV-positive, you shouldn't be having sex," Marsh said.
Marsh also repeatedly pleaded with students who decide to have intercourse to practice safe sex.
"Trust is the number one thing we have to have in our relationships," Marsh said. "But that doesn't mean that we don't have to use a condom."
"I can tell someone to wear a condom until I'm blue in the face, but it's something else to negotiate it or to put it on," she said.
Marsh also offered her views about some of the ethical dilemmas that face those who are HIV positive.
"I don't think it's someone with HIV's responsibility to tell their sexual partners they are HIV-positive, as long as they use condoms and practice safe sex," Marsh said.
When questioned, Marsh said she is still sexually active. She said suggests to her partners that they have themselves tested for the HIV-virus.
She said she discusses with her partners the fact that she is HIV-positive before having intercourse with her.
Marsh said being tested for HIV personalizes the virus by making people aware of its reality.
"It's important to go through the act of getting tested and then waiting two weeks for the results," Marsh said. "It makes it more of a 'we' thing and less of a 'them' thing."
Marsh made a clear distinction between those who are HIV-positive and those with AIDS.
People with AIDS are sick with illnesses caused by having a depressed immune system, Marsh said. But people who are HIV-positive are only carriers of the disease.
Marsh has traveled extensively, speaking to student groups about AIDS and was host of MTV's "More Sex in the 90's" special.
Marsh moved back home to San Francisco from Portland, Ore. to live with her parents when she discovered she was HIV-positive.
She now works as an AIDS counselor in San Francisco with HIV-positive male prostitutes who are intravenous drug users.
"Seeing people really struggle to help themselves has made me want to help myself," Marsh said.
Marsh said she is presently not sick and is not on any medication.
"There is a lot of controversy around AZT," Marsh said. "I won't go on it. I don't believe in it."
Confidential AIDS testing is available at Dicks House and anonymous testing is available at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
