The Aftermath
Opinion/Editorial By The Colonel
June was a heavy month: violence and bloodshed in the streets of Iran, new suicide bombings in Iraq, the economy’s continuing downward spiral, extreme weather across the Unites States, serial celebrity deaths, and of course HIV outbreak in the adult industry. Let’s put the other things aside for a while and focus on this recent HIV incident:
What we know so far, is that AIM detected a HIV positive female performer and quarantined her and the others who have worked with her. There’s no way to verify the exact length of the window of infection and the number of people who are currently on the quarantine list. What we know for certain is that AIM has removed all of the quarantined people from their database, so if you call AIM office or log into their web site to verify a performer’s test and get the message: ‘currently there is no information available on this person’, it means that particular individual is on the quarantine list.
However, some names have been published, including names of the director and the male performer who were involved in shooting the scene with the HIV positive female, allegedly a friend of the director. The male performer has tested twice since the incident, and is waiting for his third test. The shocking part of the story is that he, probably along with the other quarantined performers, look forward to resuming their performing career once they’re removed from the quarantine list. So I need to explain some very important facts about HIV infection/detection, and why they shall never work in the adult industry again.
Since HIV infested the humanity in the mid 80’s, there have been numerous speculations and theories about the origins of HIV, how it operates and how it can be contained and/or treated. I don’t have to get into any of those debates here, the only fact I have to address is that malignant, treacherous HIV virus has the ability to hide and lay dormant, undetected inside a host for months, even years before becoming active and beginning to invade the host. This is what every physician will tell you. In fact, when you get tested for HIV, the lab can never tell you with certainty and beyond the shadow of the doubt whether you’re positive or negative. What the lab tells you is that the HIV virus has not been detected. It means you can be infected, you can be the carrier, you can be the host of a dormant, hidden virus that will eventually strike to destroy you.
Let me give you a hypothetical example: two people get tested for HIV, one has never had any contacts with a HIV positive person, and the other one recently had sex with a HIV positive person. The test results of both indicate: HIV not detected. But which one of them has a higher chance of being infected by a dormant, hidden, yet undetected virus? And why on earth such person should be allowed back to have sex with more people and expose them to such a life threatening disease? Why that person shouldn’t realize and accept the potential danger he can pose to other’s lives, safety and livelihood and jeopardize them for the sake of his personal gain? And why we, as an industry, should tolerate this and pay the price for someone else’s misfortune? How many more lives most be destroyed and what does it take for us to understand?
Therefore, I highly recommend that people involved in the recent HIV incident must be prevented from working in the adult industry and posing potential danger to others. This is an extremely serious issue and I cannot emphasize enough on it’s importance.
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The last decade, we witnessed the tragedy that Marc Wallace brought on the adult industry and many lives he destroyed for the sake of his benefit and gratification. One of his several victims was Karen Stagliano AKA Tricia Devereaux, then a young girl seeking a career in the adult industry. Today, she’s the wife of John Stagliano, one of the most successful producers and directors in the history of adult cinema. But I guarantee you all the power, all the fame and all the wealth in the world cannot and will not give her back the life that Marc Wallace stole from her. The question is: how many more Tricia Devereauxs do we need and how many more can we afford until the powers that be crack down on us and destroy our house of cards? Think about it, and draw your own conclusion.