🇺🇸 “Thinking of my brother Marc Regnard who died on April 18, 1992, age 28. I can only imagine what he might have accomplished and the adventures we could have had together, if he had been given the chance to live.
Looking back on Marc’s short life, I can’t help but be amazed by what he accomplished. In the early 90’s, he moved from California to Paris, France, where he and a small group of friends founded
@actions_traitements . This organization started with a straight forward mission: to promote the rights of HIV patients to access cutting edge medical treatment at a time when they desperately needed it to survive.
Actions Traitements grew from the ground up; Marc and his partners had to distribute home-made fliers on the streets of Paris to raise awareness and funds. Today,
@actions_traitements is a leading non-profit in the field of HIV/AIDS in France. In December of 2016, Marc’s friend and
@actions_traitements co-founder, Jean Marc Bithoun, received France’s Medal of the National Order of Merit in recognition of his 25 years of service to HIV/AIDS patients in France and beyond.
I can only imagine how proud Marc would have been of Action Traitement’s success, how far it has come and how many people it has saved.
I know that if Marc were alive, he would also be pleased with the progress achieved on legal, cultural and social fronts by the LGBTQI+ communities in North America and Europe. He would be encouraged to know that as a result of his contribution to activist movements throughout the 80’s, today’s youth in many countries now have opportunities to live in ways that would have been unimaginable for him as a child growing up in the 70’s.
Marc didn’t have an easy life. It was one of constant struggle but he rarely complained. Even toward the end when his body was failing him, he had few regrets. He lived the days that he was awarded to the fullest.
I still feel the void left by Marc’s passing; without his advice, laughter; his stubborn passion. Yet as the poet Marie Howe writes:
“I am alive. I remember.”
Marc, on ne t’oublie pas.” 📖 by Hugh Aprile
@hughaprile #whatisrememberedlives