I think the momentum on fighting #HIVStigma I see everywhere now is great. In 2001 I had been openly gay for only 6ish years, before that only my BF knew, and the rest of the world must have assumed LOL, but I was not going back in the closet for anything. This is why despite all the warning's from healthcare pro's, family, friends, etc. I came out pos from day 1. People asked why I missed work the day before... I simply said "Found out I have #HIV and had to deal with it". Since that day it's as easy as ever for me to disclose, what is not easy is dealing with all the shit we deal with due to social ignorance (#HIVSTIGMA). No one cared when I was yelling this out but now #CDC and #HRC decided to tackle it and everyone hears! Amen, I don't care I just want it to end. Just like being out and proud, marriage equality rights we have won, this too will prevail and we will stand united as communities that are educated and proud rather than suspicious, ignorant and scared. If you are not pos and reading this... please understand, the ENORMOUS amount of people living with this virus and keeping it all to themselves due to fear of being rejected, hurt or simply it's too much to handle since they are dealing with the health issues and trying to keep everything together at the same time. I know first hand. Lots in my community have come to me confidentially and disclosed their status to me asking me questions due to them knowing through the grapevine that I am pos... not once have seen any of these same people come out about it and in fact short of beg me not to tell anyone else. Once I had two very close friends tell me separately!! Crazy! I keep it to myself as that is a personal journey and one sure fired way to make a person feel betrayed.
Anyhow, the reason I started this post was because although I am an active member of reddit. Daily. I really only go to my sub /r/HIVTruth and always /r/HIVAIDS as it is the most used forum with the most exposure on all of Reddit so I miss a lot of other area's of that community. I have recently starting posting on LGBT and LGBT Dating sites with lots of "likes" and comments. This is my goal to educate as many as possible while still maintaining some sort of life outside of this chromebook!! But today, all within an hour of me logging in, 3 seperate threads were started about #PrEP. This means people are listening to all the blogs, media and thousands who are telling their stories and getting the word out. PrEP along with all the campaigns starting up to #FightStigma are going to result in great things!!
Anyhow, the reason I started this post was because although I am an active member of reddit. Daily. I really only go to my sub /r/HIVTruth and always /r/HIVAIDS as it is the most used forum with the most exposure on all of Reddit so I miss a lot of other area's of that community. I have recently starting posting on LGBT and LGBT Dating sites with lots of "likes" and comments. This is my goal to educate as many as possible while still maintaining some sort of life outside of this chromebook!! But today, all within an hour of me logging in, 3 seperate threads were started about #PrEP. This means people are listening to all the blogs, media and thousands who are telling their stories and getting the word out. PrEP along with all the campaigns starting up to #FightStigma are going to result in great things!!
#HIVTruth #FightStigma #SpeakOutHIV #HIV #HIVStigma #AIDS
