The June 2013 issue of POZ magazine is online.

Here’s an excerpt from my editor’s letter:

The big difference among these flags is that the U.S. flag and the Marine Corps flag when displayed send a message of love of country, but the rainbow flag when it’s displayed sends a message of love of self: “You are welcome here.” I’ll never forget how accepted I felt seeing all the rainbow flags waving at my first LGBT pride parade.

It is this sense of acceptance--or rather, the lack of it--that is so dissonant when it comes to HIV stigma among gay men. An essay by Mark S. King--an AIDS advocate, an author and a blogger living with HIV since 1985--explores why it persists.

Our Q&A with Paul Semugoma, MD, reveals not only a lack of acceptance, but also an abundance of intolerance for LGBT people, especially gay men with HIV, in his native Uganda. Case in point: He hasn’t gone home since he came out as gay in a speech in Washington, DC, during the XIX International AIDS Conference last year.
To read my complete letter from the editor, click here.