Tee-Shirt Mavens

Ott’s got an original Act-Up tee-shirt, given to him by one of the founders. Goi wears GMHC tee-shirts when she washes the floors of the office. And on Friday, Seree was wearing a tee-shirt take-off on Addidas, which has the company’s logo with the word “Addicted” underneath. (Karyn told me she and Ott brought them back from New York the last time they were there.) Then there are the dozens of tee-shirts that were produced around the time of the Bangkok International HIV/AIDS Conference in 2004 – demanding an end to medical apartheid, and equal access to ARV therapy for developing countries. And the harm reduction tee-shirts, with messages about safe injecting, and not sharing needles. And the tee-shirts about prisoner’s rights, and safer sex. One of my favorites is TNP+’s (The Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS) – it’s bright red, with a line drawing on the front that says (in English) Positive Friends, Positive Life. I asked Kamon, one of the members of TNP+ why the message was in English. Ott replied, matter of factly, “because people think English is cool….” Indeed, observing the dozens of tee-shirts worn by the folks I’ve been around confirms the preponderance of English slogans. While some of the tee-shirts are, in fact, from the States, many others are made here – and often have English messages on the front, and Thai messages on the back. But no matter what the language, the advocates here in Thailand are real tee-shirt mavens, with an international flair for getting the message out.