Elton John on World AIDS Day: “In American cities, as many as one out of every five gay and bisexual men is HIV-positive.”

In a column he’s written for Huffington Post, AIDS activist Elton John points out a grim and very alarming statistic: In American cities, as many as one out of every five gay and bisexual men is HIV-positive, and half of those infected are unaware they have the disease. Indeed, HIV prevalence in our community is on par with some of the hardest hit regions of the developing world. Also, new HIV infections are actually on the rise among gay and bisexual men — the only risk group in America for which this is the case.

This is 30 years after the first reported cases of what became known as AIDS and after we have supposedly learned so much about prevention. For those of us who are in our 40s or older, we know all about the fear of infection, the fear of dying. We have friends or relatives who are infected or who have died.

Clearly there is a serious need for education. Even if there are life-saving drugs now, there is no cure and you don’t want to get infected or infect others.

Writes Elton: Today’s statistics show that we have stalled in our drive against this disease. We’ve dropped our guard and become complacent, and in that void, AIDS is thriving in our community once again. Today, on World AIDS Day 2011, I’m ringing the alarm bell. We must WAKE UP! There are three immediate challenges before us, and we have to address them NOW!

We have to teach gay men to love and accept themselves, to value and protect their health and the health of others, and to join the campaign for our equal rights as human beings. We cannot be silent or invisible. The old slogan “Silence = Death” is every bit as relevant today as it was in the 1980s.