Gere gives moving account of friend lost to disease

RICHARD S. EHRLICH
BANGKOK, Thailand

Hollywood movie actor Richard Gere opened the international AIDS Film Festival on Monday by condemning America's "insane war in Iraq" and by refusing a suggestion that he become the next president of the United States.

"I lost a very close friend" to AIDS, Mr. Gere said in a speech inside a packed cinema before the festival's first film screened.

"I had lived with this friend for, how long? I think it was late '80s, probably '87, when he first called me" to reveal the results of a health check-up, Mr. Gere said.

"He was in tears, he could barely get it out, and he said, 'Richard, I got my test back. I'm positive.'

"I went to see him in his hotel. And we just cried for hours together."

Mr. Gere said his friend had enough money, friends and medical support, to survive more than a decade before dying about 18 months ago.

"He didn't want anyone to know" he suffered from AIDS even though he lived in "Los Angeles and the entertainment community", Mr. Gere said.

"I don't want anyone else to die like that," Mr. Gere added, without revealing his friend's name.

"It [AIDS] has gone too long, way too long. I was also thinking today of the $300 billion, plus, that we have wasted on an insane war in Iraq," the actor said, drawing yelps of agreement and rapturous applause from an audience which included diplomats, foreign and local businessmen, media representatives, artists, Thai government officials and others.

Thailand, a staunch U.S. ally, dispatched more than 420 troops to Iraq in 2003, but said all its forces will be withdrawn in September.

Mr. Gere said his experience with AIDS victims changed his life more than his study of Tibetan Buddhism.

"In the deepest sense of what these tragedies can be, they bring for me -- even in a more intense way than I ever could have learned in the practice of Buddhism -- how interconnected we are.

"There is no separation. We are totally brothers and sisters. And that [realization] is the way we are finally going to kill this thing off."

He invited the audience to raise their hands when he asked: "Who here has lost a close friend to this disease?"

Upon seeing a widespread response, he asked, "Can we just take maybe 30 seconds just to think about them? Come, just close your eyes and just think about them."

After a silent, meditative period, Mr. Gere said softly, "Now imagine all the other people you don't know, who have died, and send that same love back to them, in the whole world. Close your eyes please," he invited, drawing a mixed response from the awe-struck audience.

"Thank you. That was nice."

Thailand's outspoken anti-AIDS activist, Senator Mechai Veravaidya -- known as "Mr. Condom" for his joyful public distribution of condoms throughout the country -- was the next speaker and expressed a rapport with Mr. Gere.

"We thank you most sincerely, and the Thai people love you. You must come back, and we hope you'll be the next president of the United States," Senator Mechai said, attracting bursts of laughter and cheers.

Mr. Gere immediately bounded onto the stage and, grinning broadly, announced: "I am not running, and I will not accept."

Politics aside, a gay Indonesian dance troupe then performed a display of three men wearing traditional masks and black, red and gold costumes.

The dancing masked men pretended to copulate and kiss each other, and then kissed other hand-held masks, to symbolize the easy spread of HIV among lovers.

The 2004 AIDS Film Festival is part of the 15th International AIDS Conference running through until Friday.

* Richard S. Ehrlich is a former UPI correspondent who has reported from Asia for the past 26 years.