Articles

  The 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this month
offered both hope and concern about this fearsome malady.  Because Straight Spouses are at particular risk for this and other sexually transmitted diseases, it is especially urgent that we be informed and cautious.  Since the first clearly identified AIDS cases appeared in the United States in 1981, it has become pandemic and an estimated 33 million people across the world now live with HIV.

    Despite the fact that the global rate of new incidences of HIV infection has decreased each year since 1998, the number of new cases in the United States has risen from 40,000 to 56,300 annually.  The Centers for Disease Control reports that the number of new cases in the U.S. has increased by a quarter million since 1998.

    Why is this happening?  Public health experts claim that prevention programs are having a positive impact, yet there are disturbing facts to the contrary.  HIV infections through homosexual sex, which hit a low point in the 1990s, are now
increasing. 

    People of color are apparently at particular risk, as Hispanics have a rate of infection that's three times higher than whites. Black men acquire the infection at a rate seven times higher than whites and black women make up nearly 40 percent of new
infections.  Many of these are unsuspecting straight married
women!  Cultural and social pressures like the "down-low" phenomenon and resistance to contraceptives and condoms make preventive efforts even more problematic.

    The message is clear.  Whether we are male or female, single or married, black or white, Asian or Hispanic--no matter what our race or cultural background--it is each person's responsibility to be informed about HIV /AIDS prevention.  We each must take responsibility for our own health. 

    There is hope and there is good news on this serious subject.  Effective combination antiretroviral treatments have allowed people with AIDS to live longer and with greater quality of life.  Though it is incurable, AIDS is no longer the immediate death sentence of previous decades.

    But no matter how effective the treatment becomes, prevention is always better.  Stay informed!  Protect yourself! 

Carol Grever is a recognized spokesperson for straight spouses, having interviewed on major network television and radio shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Anderson Cooper 360, Good Morning America, The Early Show, and Iyanla, among others. She has been interviewed more than 70 times on issues related to her books. Whenever a public figure comes out of the closet, as Governor Jim McGreevey did in 2004, Carol is a sought-after source of information.

She speaks with the authority of personal experience: Her husband came out after more than 30 years of leading a double life within their marriage. His hidden homosexuality came as a total shock to Carol, who uses her own journey and its lessons to help others overcome the challenge. Her interviews with dozens of other straight spouses provide absorbing personal stories that enliven her books and demonstrate diverse approaches to recovery.

An Oklahoma native, Carol is an adopted Coloradan. She is a former English professor and staffing company owner. She has published poems and articles in a variety of magazines, as well as one collection of poetry, Sun of a New Dawn. She holds a Master’s Degree with Distinction from Pacific University and did doctoral work at Oklahoma State University.

Active in community life, Carol has served on a dozen non-profit boards and has received numerous honors, including the Colorado Business and Professional Women’s Woman of the Year and Community Service Award, Entrepreneur of Distinction, Boulder’s Business Pacesetter, and Boulder County's Business Hall of Fame. She is Past President of the Boulder Rotary Club and has chaired the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, the Private Industry Council, and the Board of Trustees of Naropa University. Currently, she’s active in Boulder Press Club, Boulder Media Women, and the Colorado Authors' League, where she serves as Vice President. She enjoys life in a renovated 100-year-old farmhouse with her husband, Dale, and a calming tuxedo cat named Serena.