Mama Mia!
I could relate to the two young HIV positive mothers Chelsea Gulden and Diana Ragland in the article “Labors of Love” (January 2007). I discovered I was pregnant a year after being diagnosed. After talking to doctors and doing research, I learned that the chances of transmitting the virus were small—if I got proper medical treatment. So I decided to carry out my pregnancy. My son is now 5 and negative. Like them, I am open about my status. I speak to the community in hopes of educating others and reducing stigma. I refuse to be ashamed
of being positive.
Kelly Hill
Seattle
POZ is wonderful, but as a positive African-American woman, I believe that you guys are doing an injustice by not featuring more of us in the magazine. Even though January’s cover girl, Chelsea Gulden, is great, HIV is taking out black and Latina women—and I think this virus looks more like me. The same thing happened in the ’80s. Because HIV’s image did not look like me, I felt it couldn’t happen to me. Is that the message you want to send?
Gina Brown
Dallas
Vitamin See
After reading Tim Murphy’s “A Little Something on the Side” (January 2007), about the nutritional supplement K-PAX, I felt compelled to share my story. I’ve been a patient of Dr. Jon Kaiser (the article’s featured doctor) for almost 20 years. Under his care, I have taken K-PAX and never had a serious illness or any med side effects. Since I started taking these supplements, my CD4 count climbed so high that I started a supervised meds interruption. This article underlines the need for more nutritional studies.
Steve Newman
Dallas
The Verdict Is in
Lucile Scott’s “Prison Break” (January 2007) incorrectly stated that the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) helped introduce condoms into the Philadelphia Prison System (PPS) for the first time last year. Condoms have been available at PPS since 1988. It was ACT UP Philadelphia who initiated a campaign to improve the prison policy so that condoms could be widely and
easily accessible, as a part of their Prevention Justice Partnership project, a year-long prevention program coordinated by CHAMP.
Sean Barry, CHAMP
New York City
