World AIDS Day II

Madonna's commitment to the fight against AIDS has always been a reason for our pride, since the first Who's That Girl Tour shows, dedicated to the research of a cure for "the plague of the 20th century". But at the time, I wasn't aware of such thing.

In fact, I wasn't aware of the seriousness of AIDS at all (I was 7 when the Portuguese media talked about it for the first time, in 1984, with the shocking death of António Variações, a Portuguese singer and absolute pop icon in my country). Not until the day I arrived home, on March 1989, after running to the record store to buy my copy of M's brand new album - with that amazing, epic title: Like a Prayer.

When I took the record out of the sleeve, something fell off. There they were: The Facts About AIDS. Madonna was speaking directly to us, addressing the issue through her art. On that precise moment, I realised ther seriousness of it.

Unfortunately, 22 years have passed and still...

... AIDS Is No Party!