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The Stigma Busting Event of the Century

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34 Comments

BREALNYC

"...Thank God for keeping my body healthy and safe." Really? It was God all along? So I guess promiscuity is okay as long as God is on your side? Pretty cool! Ummm... altho, what is the logical implication for those who test positive? Look, if he's not an Olympic diver or gymnast, I personally couldn't care less who he is or what he has to say, but others do. Others seek his autograph, wear his jerseys, toss his balls (pardon any pun), and actually live their lives according to his every act and nuance, so I'll be clear: "Faith" ranks right down there with "hope" and "luck" when it comes to HIV/AIDS. It's a disease. Period. When you bring religion into it, you confuse and cause harm by inviting a flood of inaccuracies, irrelevancies and outright stigma. *Get tested because if you are “+” medicine can save your life. *Get tested because you set a good example for others and it can save their lives.

July 7, 2012

RZ

I'm wearing a t shirt saying "undetectable" and there are others that say "tested." I think people should be proud that they are helping to stop the epidemic - that they got tested and if they're positive, that they are adherent to their meds and undetectable - not that wearing a t shirt offers any proof as to their infectiousness - I think it does promote getting tested and reducing stigma - and stopping the epidemic. Get one and wear it. I'll be giving some out free at the AIDS conference.I understand there's pozphobia among many gay people, but I think throwing it in their face is a good way to call them on it. It's no badge of righteousness to be negative. Are they abstinent? Let them wear that t shirt. They are perpetuating the epidemic.

July 3, 2012

dan

You bring up a good point. I sense there is a cultural misunderstanding here, between gays who are accustomed to regular testing and straights who are not. It is worthwhile to note that while it is good to understand that HIV could happen to anyone, an HIV test does not necessarily take us there. To see how this can go horribly wrong, look no further than The Gay Community, where seronegative status is a commodity, and negative gay men trumpet their weekly test results to affirm their value as human beings. People are increasingly screening not just their partners, but their platonic friends, citing the virus as a referendum on character. Calls to know people's status are increasingly hostile and accusatory, and outright serophobia and witchunting is increasingly seen in real life. If anything, the testing process has fueled this this quagmire. Many of us cringed when we saw a negative proclamation leap across the sexual divide.

June 14, 2012

JANET

I WONDER WOULD THIS GUY TELL THE WORLD IF HE WAS POSTIVE. IM HAVE A HARD DAMN TIME DEALING WITH MY RESULTS. YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO DID STEP UP TO PLATE

June 13, 2012

Joseph

I know for a fact that just getting tested has stigma attached. I work in a medical facility were Doctors and Nurse Practioners hesitate to even offer a test because they don't want to offend the patient. I have heard (more than once) someone ask a person why they wanted to get tested "you don't look like one of those people". I asked a 17 year old girl if she would has sex with a POZ guy. She told me NO! I asked how she would know. She told me “he would look skanky”. We have a LONG way to go yet and I’ll take any help we can get.

June 13, 2012

Dan

No, I don't think there is stigma in getting an HIV test, so long as the results are negative. Amongst many groups, an obligatory HIV test is seen as something of a mitzvah. Is it done as regularly as it should be? No. But I don't think there is any considerable stigma to the act of being tested. Where the stigma begins is when someone gets the "wrong" result. As for announcing our positive status, that's irrellevant. Yeah, being closeted about poz status doesn't help, but bragging about neg status causes way more harm. This is a total non sequitur. Just because we might choose not to turn ourselves into pariahs doesn't mean he should have the right to do it.

June 7, 2012

Courtney

So please answer me this, anyone. Do you not believe there is any stigma in HIV testing in general, results aside? For one, I hear from many people that just coming in for a test makes them feel stigmatized because they "must be doing something bad". That said, many of you are poz. Would you publicly announce your positive test result after receiving it?

June 6, 2012

Jacob

"Like"

June 4, 2012

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