The Urban Daily caught up with the singer/actress while she was in New York City promoting  the “Fight HIV Your Way” contest.  During our conversation, Sheryl Lee Ralph shared stories of how she feels about sex education in schools, how the attitude towards HIV/AIDS has changed, and how she approached the sex talk with her children.

TUD:December 1st is World AIDS Day. Didn’t you write an open letter about World AIDS Day recently?

Sheryl Lee Ralph: Oh my goodness, did you actually read it?

Of course! That’s my job.

Oh, wow! Thank you. Now I really give you points. Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate that. You know folks don’t read anymore. You send them information and they haven’t got a clue. People come up and they’re supposed to be working with you and they have no idea what you’ve done. I find it really fascinating. So I really rate you for reading.

Thank you. Why has AIDS awareness become such a big part of your mission in entertainment? Why choose that cause?

It’s so interesting that thirty years ago as an original company member of Dreamgirls on Broadway, I stood witness to what I call “The Ugly Time in America.” I saw my friends literally drop dead. They got sick and they died. There was no dying process, not like the one we’ve become used to. They just got sick and died and it was awful because I saw them die under stigma, shame, and silence. I saw people who could’ve helped turn their backs on AIDS victims and act as if they didn’t know any AIDS victims. I thought, “This is horrible that we, the people who say, ‘We will do unto others as we would have them do unto us,’ found it so easy to ignore our friends and people who suffered.” That’s when I made up my mind to, as a young woman, that we have got to do better.

I remember clearly thirty years ago, people told me to shut up. They told me not to talk about it. They said, “People will not like you.” I couldn’t understand this. I said, “How can we just be quiet in a time like this?!” Now, some thirty years later, people are asking, “Why are you suddenly involved in this?” They just don’t realize I’ve been doing this for a long time. It may have fallen on deaf ears over the past thirty years, but I’ve been doing it for a long time. My Divas Simply Singing is the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in the country.
Sheryl Lee Ralph At 2009 Divas Simply Sing

How do you feel the attitude towards HIV/AIDS has changed within those thirty years? There are still a lot of people who are ignorant about it.

To tell you the truth, I’m shocked, as I travel across this country, at how little people know or don’t want to know about HIV/AIDS. There are a lot of people who don’t know that HIV is one thing and AIDS is another. Those people just think it’s one big old alphabet of a disease. Some still want to hold on to the myth that it’s a gay disease of little consequence to the general population. People don’t even want to admit that the number one way to contract HIV/AIDS is through heterosexual sex.

I’m even shocked at the number of people who can’t even say the word ‘sex’ out loud. People act as if others don’t have it. They always say, “Young people are not having a lot of sex.” They always say, “Old people aren’t having a lot of sex.” Trust me, they are having sex. Teenagers are having sex as well as old people. Cialis and Viagra changed everything.

What are your thoughts on sex education in schools? Do you believe that schools should teach abstinence or safe sex?

They should teach everything! It’s school! That is where you give children all of the information. You teach them about safe sex. You teach them about abstinence. There is nothing wrong with having a complete, age appropriate conversation. I cannot believe that my generation may very well have been the last one to have sex education in schools that was truly the complete and total package. I mean what are we doing? Are we in the future, but acting like it’s The Dark Ages? You can’t have lyrics in music where every time you turn on the radio you fee like you’re being sexually abused and turn around and act like people aren’t having sex. Come on!

You integrate things about AIDS awareness into a lot of the work you do like Divas Simply Singing, A lot of people know you as Dee from Moesha. How come there was never a blatant spotlight put on AIDS awareness when you were on the show?

Yes there was! How’d you miss that episode? We talked about everything on that show. We talked about HIV/AIDS, birth control, smoking weed, and we talked about young boys having stiffys in the middle of the night. You missed it.

I must have because the sex episode I remember was when Dee found out about Moesha’s birth control. I’ll have to go watch them again. Anyway, how did you come up with the concept of “Divas Simply Singing” instead of another type of benefit event?

I love that question. Thank you for asking it. I figured if we had a subject that was so important, like HIV/AIDS, what could I do to grab people’s attention. I figured you need a woman with big hair and an even bigger attitude. You need a woman who can wear the lipstick and the lashes to get on the stage and belt out a big song. A woman like that could get on the stage and say,“Look at me!” and have people actually look at them and listen to what they were saying. That’s how I came up with the concept; a light, a mic, and a diva simply singing.

If your folks want to make a donation, they can go to The Diva Foundation’s website and get their doggone t-shirt. Buy a DVD while you’re there. We need the help, baby. Tell them to come on.

At this past Divas Simply Singing, you reunited with Loretta Devine and Jennifer Holiday on stage. Was this the first time you did so since doing Dreamgirls on Broadway?

No, that was the second or third time. You know I have a way of bringing people together. We are like sisters. We are dysfunctional, but we love each other. I may pull your wig off, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. So I’ve gotten us together on several occasions and we just have the greatest time together. We may cry and fight, but we definitely love each other.

Aren’t you doing a one woman show called Sometimes I Cry.

See that. You really do read! I’ve been performing my one woman show which I perform all around the world. The show happened because ten or twelve years ago, I started hearing so many stories from women surrounding HIV/AIDS. Nobody was telling these stories. It was 2002 and the disease had just taken a turn and I was like, “Whoa!”

I remember specifically, in the summer of 2002, the rate of women infected with HIV/AIDS was beginning to match the rate of men and nobody was talking about it. It was as if it was on nobody else’s radar. I had made up my mind to do something about it. I wanted to bring light to these women’s fight and that’s when I sat down and wrote Sometimes I Cry. It’s all about real women’s real stories surrounding the disease.

As a parent, how did you approach the topic of sex and HIV/AIDS awareness with your children?

I just talked about it. I talked about safe and appropriate sex. I talked about what is the right thing and what is the wrong thing. Don’t let people touch you and you don’t touch anybody else. Your stuff is private and their stuff is private. When the dogs start doing that action, that is how they have puppies. You’ve got to figure out these answers because when kids ask you, you can’t say, “Oh well, we don’t want to have that conversation with you.” Be ready to talk to your children.

I spoke so much about it with my son that when he went away to college, he sent me a picture of him with a condom taped to his forehead and he had typed in, “Uh, what is this for again, Mommy? LOL” You got to have these conversations with your kids and you’ve got to be in a place where your kids feel comfortable enough to come talk to you about these things.

Do find that parents are more uncomfortable talking about sex than their children are?

I know for a fact that mine were. I was a freshman at Rutgers University and I came home and said to my mother, “Why didn’t you talk to me about sex?!” My mother responded in her thick Jamaican accent, “Because I didn’t think you needed to know.” So was I supposed to be pushed out there to learn on my own? You talk to your children first because if you don’t somebody else will and that is not the conversation you want them to have.

I noticed you write a blog for The Huffington Post. Do you write a piece for them every year for World AIDS Day?

Boy, you really do read. I like you. Every year I do something to raise up the memory of my friends because anybody that can help you with your wig, weave, and wardrobe problems deserve to be remembered. In fact, I’ve got a book coming out in March of 2012 published by Simon & Schuster. It’s called “Redefining Diva.” It’s a memoir which gives the reader lessons I’ve learned through the experiences in my life. I talk about HIV/AIDS awareness in there also.

Do you have any suggestions for those who want to become part of HIV/AIDS awareness. How do they mix AIDS education, activism, and the arts?

I’m glad you asked me that because I’m involved in a wonderful project called Fight HIV Your Way. This is a project developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb. It’s another way to add the arts into the good fight against AIDS. The way the contest works is people send in photos or essays of how HIV/AIDS has affected their lives. This year, the prize is to come to New York City and watch a performance of the show, Home, choreographed by Rennie Harris. The show was inspired by the submissions to Fight HIV Your Way. So the best way to mix the arts, activism, and AIDS awarness is to take a picture. Maybe next year, they will be here in New York City. Infected or affected, we each have a story to tell surrounding this disease.

For more information on Sheryl Lee Ralph’s work and charitable endeavors, visit The Diva Foundation’s website. To find out more about the mission of Fight HIV Your Way, head over to their site.

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Now Tha Based God returns with a musical message to his fans, “I Got AIDS.” The song is featured on his upcoming mixtape, BasedGod Velli.

On the song he raps, “I was worried about gettin her pregnant/not knowing she had full blown AIDS and she sexin…“

Lil B posted the following message under the song on his Youtube channel:

PLEASE EVERYONE I MADE THIS TO INFORM EVERYONE THAT I LOVE AND RESPECT AND EVERYONE THAT LISTENS TO MY MUSIC AND LOVES BASED TO PLEASE GET TESTED AND PROTECT YOURSELF AND PARTNERS
AND BE SAFE,
I WANT YOU TO NO IF YOU HAVE SEX YOU ARE AT RISK
PLEASE USE CONDOMS AND HAVE SAFE SEX,
PLEASE I LOVE YOU,
IF YOU CARE ABOUT ME UPLOAD A VIDEO OF YOU GOING TO GET TESTED AND SEND TO ME I WILL ALSO UPLOAD A VIDEO OF ME GETTING TESTED,
I LOVE YOU AND IF YOU ARE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE NO (KNOW) YOU HAVE SUPPORT – Lil B

If anything Lil B gets points for timing, as World AIDS Day is coming up on December 1st. But following up an “I’m Gay” message with an “I Got AIDS” message can be problematic, reinforcing dated stereotypes that HIV is only a “gay” disease.  According to CDC data, heterosexual contact was responsible for over 12,000 HIV diagnoses in 2009, with more than half of them being women. Have you been tested?

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UN Launches New AIDS Prevention Program “Countdown To Zero”

Many of their peers succumbed to unusual infections by their first or second birthdays. They were living on borrowed time, it seemed.  While their friends’ parents visited schools, these kids visited their parents’ graves. When their classmates planned for the future, they often thought about death.

Minority Infants Much More Likely To Have HIV

Ms. Hydeia Broadbent,  born HIV positive  is using her life to stand up and speak out for all those  who are living  extraordinary lives. She has traveled the country educating people of all ages about the dangers of AIDS and how to protect themselves from contracting it. She has been featured in  news all across the country. She has been awarded the MLK Drum Major Award; Humanitarian Spirit Award, American Red Cross; Grandma’s House Award by Centers for Disease Control, Top Ten Female Role Models of the Year; Ms. Foundation, 1999; and the Essence Award, 1999.

This year she has been named by  Hello Beautiful as one of  30 Under 30 to watch.

Watch the video below  and be touched, challenged and wowed by the poise of a heroine.

Hydeia’s Broadbent’s Story:
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This young woman marks her path  with inspirational heroism  that gives hope  that all things anything is possible.

Over all, some 2.7 million H.I.V. tests were performed between October 2007 and September 2010. Just over 1 percent of those tested, or 29,503, were found to be infected. Of those, 18,432 were not aware of their status, C.D.C. officials said. Some 12,711 of those for whom the diagnosis was new, or about 75 percent, were routed into the health care system.

“An estimated 240,000 Americans — a fifth of the nearly 1.2 million living with H.I.V. — do not know they are infected,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the C.D.C.’s AIDS prevention center.

“The majority of the estimated 56,000 new H.I.V. infections that occur each year are transmitted by those who are unaware of their infection,” he said.

Get Tested.  Be safe. Live Long.

“The impressive new estimates are an important milestone in the public health response to HIV that began 30 years ago,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “But we have much to do to reach the goal of universal access, and doing more of the same will not get us there. We need further innovation in HIV, including simpler and more accessible prevention and treatment approaches for all those in need.”

Dr Chan will speak at the UN High-Level Meeting Panel on “Innovation and New Technologies” on 9 June 2011 in New York.

The new HIV treatment figures show a 16-fold increase in the number of people receiving ART between 2003 and 2010. While this is an impressive achievement, about nine million more people were eligible for ART but were not receiving it in 2010. The figures are included in the “AIDS at 30″ report released today in New-York by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Closing the remaining gap through more effective HIV programmes is a central theme of the new WHO Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS for 2011-2015 that has been endorsed by the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly just ten days ago.

“Innovation in finding more optimal ways to deliver HIV services is key,” said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO’s Director of HIV/AIDS Department. “For example, by linking HIV with other health services such as for maternal and child health, tuberculosis, drug dependence and primary care, we will greatly increase the coverage of HIV interventions and also achieve broader health outcomes.”

The Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS for 2011-2015 will guide actions by WHO and its member countries to strengthen health systems and address inequalities and human rights violations that are impeding access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care services.

Make sure to read:  AIDS Is Still In Our Lives and  AIDS Anniversary Recognized, Still No Cure

Start Gallery

On June 5, 1981, a bombshell quietly exploded in America. On that day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report on a rare and deadly illness affecting five young, gay men in Los Angeles. It would be more than a year before the condition got its official name, but that was the day that Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, was officially recognized in the U.S.

Get Tested On June 27th, National HIV Testing Day

Thirty years later, it can be hard to remember the fear and the desperation of those early days. It took more than three years to identify the virus that caused AIDS and to develop a test to detect HIV, the virus that causes it. There were no treatments, and most people died very quickly. The average survival time after diagnosis was less than a year. People lost their jobs, their families and friends, and their homes when they got sick. Out of fear and ignorance, some schools refused to admit HIV-positive students and some doctors wouldn’t treat HIV-positive patients. Churches and funeral homes refused to bury those who died.

READ THE REST HERE

AIDS Is Still In Our Lives

Familiar Faces Lost To HIV/AIDS

Start Gallery

Dramatic scientific advances since HIV was first discovered 30 years ago this week mean the virus is no longer a death sentence. Thanks to tests that detect HIV early, new antiretroviral AIDS drugs that can control the virus for decades, and a range of ways to stop it being spread, 33.3 million people around the world are learning to live with HIV.

People like Vuyiseka Dubula, an HIV-positive AIDS activist and mother in Cape Town, South Africa, can expect relatively normal, full lives. “I’m not thinking about death at all,” she says. “I’m taking my treatment and I’m living my life.”

Nonetheless, on the 30th birthday of HIV, the global scientific community is setting out with renewed vigor to try to kill it. The drive is partly about science, and partly about money. Treating HIV patients with lifelong courses of sophisticated drugs is becoming unaffordable.

Caring for HIV patients in developing countries alone already costs around $13 billion a year and that could treble over the next 20 years.

In tough economic times, the need to find a cure has become even more urgent, says Francoise Barre Sinoussi, who won a Nobel prize for her work in identifying Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). “We have to think about the long term, including a strategy to find a cure,” she says. “We have to keep on searching until we find one.”

The Berlin patient is proof they could. His case has injected new energy into a field where people for years believed talk of a cure was irresponsible.

THE CURE THAT WORKED

Timothy Ray Brown was living in Berlin when besides being HIV-positive, he had a relapse of leukemia. He was dying. In 2007, his doctor, Gero Huetter, made a radical suggestion: a bone marrow transplant using cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation, known as CCR5 delta 32. Scientists had known for a few years that people with this gene mutation had proved resistant to HIV.