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Been poz 35 years here and Undetectable for many years now. Have been around many ASO and volunteered for years . When PREP was first introduced was hopeful it might help end STIGMA it hasn’t. I now see men on GRINDR etc… Saying there on PREP when they are actually poz undetectable. Reason being absolutely no STIGMA attached to PREP. When law makers in the USA banned people who were poz from entering the USA for 20 years who live in other countries . Decriminalize being HIV End Stigma
I’m so grateful for articles like this. The world was a different place when I was diagnosed in 1988, after having been infected sometime between 1982 and 1985. The echoing memories of those early years of AIDS came screaming back at me as COVID ravaged our lives in 2020. I don’t know how or why I’ve survived this long, but if there’s any way I can help to reduce the ongoing fear & stigma of HIV I will do what I can.
What about the elderly hiv community? I am 70 and have been poz since December 9th 1993. I was put on meds right away and have been U equal U ever since. Yet now I find my body has begun to show signs of hiv related fatigue. Kidney disease, severe bouts of inflammation and chronic fatigue just to name a few. I am no longer the picture of health most often described in media and wonder if I feel bitter about getting old or if I truly have a case to tell, Any thoughts?
I found out 3/1/21 that I had AIDS…at the time of my diagnosis I had just turned 42 the day before and found out my viral load was over 10 million and CD4 was 35…my first instinct was to take it to Facebook!!! To show everyone I’m not scared and neither should you be, of me or anyone else who lives with this…it took a little longer for me to reach U=U but by the end of October 2021 I was undetectable…I would love to be a more involved advocate!!! Thank you Danny for sharing your story!!!
Why is his HIV completely avoided on the new Real World Homecoming? Seem like a HUGE omission amd missed opportunity.
Brian Bonds
HIV stigma is also very alive in the adult film industry. I started in the industry 13 years ago being HIV-. After converting, I lost all work for trans, bisexual and straight companies. And a lot of men in gay porn still don’t take prep because they stick to their own status, which has still costed me work in recent years. If anything, porn teaches people a lot about their own sexuality. And HIV stigma should be something we should be the leaders on breaking. But no.
April 14, 2024