Let's bring HIV out of the closet -
For those of us that are HIV+ it's time we come out of the closet again. I have been pos for over 15 years now and I understand the importance of privacy but just as our sex lives are private we still had to come out to inspire change. With the advances in modern medicine and the cocktails now provided stigma is what holds us back from an HIV negative future. Now that we can be in a healthy relationship with a person of the opposite status with PrEP for the negative partner and a fairly easy drug regimine (in most cases) to keep the positive partner undetectable knowing your status is key to prevention and staying negative. Knowing your status. Seems simple yet this is what is causing so many new cases still.. people are afraid to get tested or even worse people who know their status are afraid to come out and be open due to their thinking on how society will percieve them. Unfortuneately this leads to dishonest behavior on the part of some pos individuals and just plain ignorance or complete carelessness on the negative individuals. I don't think so many of you know how key "knowing your status" is to ending this epidemic. Assuming everyone did know we need to man up and be open with our status as well... just like the issue of homosexuality, HIV is perceived the way it is and treated the way it us due to ignorance. If all the pos community came out and let their status be known society would be forced to deal with it and come to terms. I have been openly pos since I was diagnosed back in 2001. This was in a small town where I swear out of 100,000 I was the only one. I never met another person in Tulare county that was pos... which is bullshit since the % per capita was very high in that area at that time but no one would come out due to fear. I thought after all this time things would change but honestly at that time I didn't care too much, but now, with things being exactly the same and being out has the ability to change things so much... I just have to say........ man up and come out. IT'S TIME.
For those of us that are HIV+ it's time we come out of the closet again. I have been pos for over 15 years now and I understand the importance of privacy but just as our sex lives are private we still had to come out to inspire change. With the advances in modern medicine and the cocktails now provided stigma is what holds us back from an HIV negative future. Now that we can be in a healthy relationship with a person of the opposite status with PrEP for the negative partner and a fairly easy drug regimine (in most cases) to keep the positive partner undetectable knowing your status is key to prevention and staying negative. Knowing your status. Seems simple yet this is what is causing so many new cases still.. people are afraid to get tested or even worse people who know their status are afraid to come out and be open due to their thinking on how society will percieve them. Unfortuneately this leads to dishonest behavior on the part of some pos individuals and just plain ignorance or complete carelessness on the negative individuals. I don't think so many of you know how key "knowing your status" is to ending this epidemic. Assuming everyone did know we need to man up and be open with our status as well... just like the issue of homosexuality, HIV is perceived the way it is and treated the way it us due to ignorance. If all the pos community came out and let their status be known society would be forced to deal with it and come to terms. I have been openly pos since I was diagnosed back in 2001. This was in a small town where I swear out of 100,000 I was the only one. I never met another person in Tulare county that was pos... which is bullshit since the % per capita was very high in that area at that time but no one would come out due to fear. I thought after all this time things would change but honestly at that time I didn't care too much, but now, with things being exactly the same and being out has the ability to change things so much... I just have to say........ man up and come out. IT'S TIME.
