January

Cover: A profile of the Reverend Rainey Cheeks, founder of Us Helping Us, Washington, DC’s first AIDS service organization for gay Black men. Inside: The best, worst and weirdest news from 1998; how African-American leaders are tackling the epidemic in their midst; 10 steps to ease peripheral neuropathy. Plus: Mario Cooper interviews San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown about his record on HIV/AIDS.

Reverend Rainey Cheeks

February

Cover: Tony Valenzuela talks about barebacking and how he became AIDS activism’s most misunderstood man. Inside: Canada’s Supreme Court upholds the criminalization of people living with HIV for nondisclosure before consensual sex; a look at Steve Hart’s deeply emotional photo essay A Bronx Family Album: The Impact of AIDS. Plus: Larry Kramer and David Webster write about how they found love in an epidemic.

Tony Valenzuela

March

Cover: Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis dives into dog training and shares an excerpt from his new book, For the Life of Your Dog. Inside: Actress Kathy Najimy on why she supports organizations such as LA Shanti and Project Angel Food. Plus:  The impact of provocative writer and artist David Wojnarowicz.

Artwork by David Wojnarowicz

April

Cover: After Tricia Devereaux and four other adult film stars tested HIV positive, the straight porn industry is forced to react. Inside: The high cost of the latest HIV meds may bankrupt drug assistance programs; finding relief from wasting and lipodystrophy. Plus: How to make art in an epidemic.

May

Cover: For POZ’s fifth anniversary, we catch up with past cover subjects Moisés Agosto, Rebekka Armstrong, Shawn Decker, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Raven Lopez, Ty Ross, Andrew Sullivan and Susan Rodriguez. Inside: Authors, artists and activists reflect on the current state of HIV; the long-term side effects of protease inhibitors. Plus: The HAART Chart breaks down the incidence rates of med side effects.

June

Cover: A report on how advances in prevention science could revolutionize safer sex. Inside: Tips for talking to doctors or nurses about your pain; POZ’s Nurse Know-It-All offers advice for sun and sleep seekers. Plus: Choreographer Muna Tseng’s last dance with her older brother, photographer Tseng Kwong Chi.

July

Cover: Guest-edited by Phill Wilson, our special “In Africa” issue highlights the crisis on the continent. Inside: Advocating for the expansion of scientific research into how gender differences affect antiretroviral dosing, resistance, side effects and more. Plus: Scovia Kazolo is a Ugandan nurse-midwife living with HIV who melds modern medicine with traditional healing.

Ugandan nurse Scovia Kazolo

August

Cover: A look inside the curious closets of artist Barton Lidice Bene—you never know what or whom you’ll find. Inside: Puerto Rican officials are accused of embezzling federal AIDS funds; how to prevent parasites—and treat them. Plus: Special summer fiction: Richard McCann’s short story on love and loss.

Artist Barton Lidice Benes

September

Cover: NYPD officer Steve Yurcik was surprised by the support he received from his fellow officers in blue when he disclosed his HIV status. Inside: Immigrants living with HIV who are detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service may face unpredictable health care. Plus: An interview with Where the Wild Things Areauthor Maurice Sendak, whose cherished drawings have been turned into a wall-sized mural at GMHC in New York City.

NYPD officer Steve Yurcik

October

Cover: Researcher Steven Miles on why the protease boom went bust—and what we can do about it. Inside: The search for a vaccine advances into uncharted territory and may be found where prevention and treatment intersect; transgender activists are fighting to make the system work for their sisters and brothers. Plus: Tibor Kalman’s graphic activism in Colors magazine.

November

Cover: In their own words, Stephen Gendin and Hush McDowell try to make sense of how one came to transmit an HIV supervirus to the other. Inside: A community action agenda on how to end the epidemic; if you’re tired and cranky and lost your love mojo, you might blame it on your hormones. Plus: Transgender nun Sister Mary Elizabeth is the wizard behind AEGIS—the AIDS Education Global Information System, the largest HIV website in the world.

Stephen Gendin (left) and Kyle “Hush” McDowell

December

Cover: From riots to ribbons, 99 monumental moments of the AIDS epidemic during the ’90s. Inside: A guide to the new world of adherence high anxiety; catching up with former cover subject Mary Fisher; will a structured treatment interruption make your holiday season jolly, or is it a folly? Plus: Meet Ferd Eggan, Los Angeles’s radical AIDS czar.

Mary Fisher and family


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