ELCA Youth Gathering features Kristine Gebbie on HIV/AIDS

by Annie Lynsen*, ELCA Washington Office

Each morning during the 2006 Youth Gathering of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), more than 15,000 high-school-
age youth gather at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, for
speakers, music, and a Bible study. Dr. Kristine Gebbie, a former
member of the Presidential Commission on AIDS, spoke July 8.
Gebbie is a board member and past president of the Lutheran AIDS
Network.

"In this size of an audience in the 21st century, whether you
know it or not, there's at least one person who's already
infected with HIV," Gebbie told gathering participants. "There
are more than a few of us in this room who have lost a family
member or a dear friend to this terrible virus. And every one of
us has been affected by the presence of this virus in the world.
It's been here since before you all were born."

Gebbie spoke about the global nature of the epidemic, and the
need for a global effort to stop it. "It doesn't matter if you're
rich or poor, it doesn't matter if you're male or female, it
doesn't matter what color your skin is, it doesn't matter what
you're drawn to sexually, you deserve a life free from HIV,"
Gebbie said. "You are the ones who will stand up, hold hands,
look at that huge river of ignorance, of fear of difference, of
fear of change, and say to one another, holding hands, 'We can
cross that river, we can stop this epidemic, we can help everyone
live in a world free of AIDS.'"

The morning gathering also featured the band Lost and Found and
the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) choir. Some 800
people participated in MYLE which took place July 2-5. About
40,000 high-school-age and adult Lutherans from the United States
and around the world are attending the ELCA Youth Gathering.

*Annie Lynsen is the director for grassroots advocacy and
education, ELCA Washington (D.C.) Office