"Let me take you back to the early eighties. Visiting friends in hospitals. We'd go in. We'd go in one night, in the morning they'd be dead. I'd bring them food. My family, bring them food. My friends bring someone food. But whoever was in bed would be dead before they could eat it."
"We'd leave it - maybe the nurses would take it home. No! They wouldn't eat it! 'Cause it's contaminated. Contaminated! Wouldn't touch it. Wouldn't go into the room. Wearing masks. Gloves! Gowns! Someone gets sick in the afternoon. They'd be dead the next day. Dead! And that went on for months, and then years. Dead! Dead!"
"You think if you got sick and your friends were dying that I would sit there and do nothing? No. But that's what happened. That's what happened. Every cold. Every virus. Every temperature. I thought I'd be dead, and so did so many people that I knew. Dead! You think you scare me? You think you can make be back off? Nothing scares me."
Seriously, watch it.
The bill passed. It passed 52-1. It will prevent people living with HIV or AIDS and receiving public assistance from having to pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent.
So, who was the lone senator to vote against it? Who was the one guy who thought this was a bad idea? Who sat and listened to this speech from Duane and said to themselves "Eh. Screw 'em."
