HIV/AIDS advocates in Georgia say that their inability to provide effective prevention, testing and counseling services to African-American and rural populations is driving new infection rates, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Widespread stigma directed at LGBT people and those living with the virus is keeping many residents from discussing HIV openly.
“If you’re black and a gay man, you’re not even looked at as a man,” says Hartsel Shirley, a 39-year-old HIV-positive Atlanta resident. “If you have HIV, you’re almost not human.”
According to the article, African Americans made up 71 percent of people living with HIV in Georgia in 2006, even though they make up just 30 percent of the general population. That year alone, 79 percent of residents diagnosed with HIV were African American.
Compounding the issue further, says Cathalene Teahan, president of the Georgia AIDS Coalition, is abstinence-centered sex education in the state’s public schools.
“No one can use the word condom now,” Teahan told the newspaper.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
