Binder, a short, curvy woman with blond hair and funky, colored glasses, grabs a megaphone. Dying for it. A crowd lines the hotel's plush corridors, watching aloofly as they sip coffee. The marchers seem timid, almost embarrassed, except for Binder and Conners. A twinge of anger rises from the protesters, then fades again.
Brave women stand up and tell personal stories.
It's painfully obvious that women, who make up 25 percent of the new HIV infections in Canada, are not getting the support and treatment they need. As my blood boils, the audiences offer quiet attention and polite applause. The women barely peep until breaks, when they chat with others, fill their plates hungrily from the snack tables and leisurely move on to the next workshop. Perhaps the women who don't take the podium are just as angry and frustrated. But they choose to fight back by networking over croissants and hushed conversations in the hallways.