As part of Black History Month, a public speaker who has been fighting both HIV and AIDS for 30 years will be discussing how the diseases have impacted her life.

Rae Lewis-Thornton, who also wrote a book on her life, will be giving a lecture on the dangers of HIV and AIDS in the black community at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The author also said her lecture will be a message of prevention and education on the diseases.

“Prevention is our best bet,” she said.

Lewis-Thornton also said she wanted to get the message across that the safest way to have sex is no sex, but said she realizes that it happens on a college campus.

“Using a condom is the next best bet,” she said.

Yolanda Williams, the minority affairs director, said the Black History Month committee in charge of planning events sought Lewis-Thornton because of her prevalent topic.

“One of the perspectives in the African/African-American Diaspora is the devastating effects HIV/AIDS has in the black community and the African-American Heritage Month committee felt that it is very important to have a speaker that can discuss this terrible epidemic especially from a personal point of view,” Williams said.

She also said Lewis-Thornton was proof of the epidemic that has taken hold of the black community.

“(She) has lived with HIV for 30 years and AIDS for 21 years and is a living testimony to the black community and this devastating epidemic,” Williams said.

Lewis-Thornton said she had been traveling for 20 years giving speeches and lectures on her illness, but she said she spends about 60 percent of her visits on college campuses.

She wanted to help bring the message of prevention and education to a younger audience, she said, as they are the ones starting out in life.

“Young people are preparing for their future, for a career and a life beyond education, so they need to know,” she said.

Although she will be discussing her life with AIDS and HIV, Lewis-Thornton said it is hard to describe living with the illnesses in a nutshell, as it affects most of her life.

“AIDS is a hard disease, one that takes care,” she said. “I take 15 pills a day, and I’m on a medical regiment.”

Although it is a difficult illness, Lewis-Thornton said people could live with it.

Williams said she expected everyone to attend the lecture, as it is an issue not only for members of the black community.

“Even though Ms. Lewis-Thornton is a black woman, her lecture on living with HIV/AIDS is important for everyone to hear and digest.”

Bob Galuski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].