HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS status, testing, prevention, treatment and HIV positive community
‘A lot of people, even including those in the gay community, still see HIV as a gay disease, which ads stigma both ways – to HIV-positive people and gay people,’ said Andrew Hickok, Prevention Manager at the Denver Colorado AIDS Project.
When the tester announced that it was time to reveal the test, my stomach turned. Lifting up the plastic cover, he stopped. He didn’t look up with a smile like he had the last time. I suddenly felt suffocated.
This publication – founded in 1976 and 37 years old this month – was just a twinkle in founder Phil Price’s eye when the birth pangs of our Colorado community sounded out 40 years ago, in October 1973.
When I stumbled upon a remote STD testing center set up in the bathhouse, I thought it was a match made in heaven: bawdy, sexy heaven. That would be my new guilt-free reason to go to the bathhouse. Any hot and heavy action there would be a reward for my good safety measures.
Mr. Poodle explained to an Atlanta gay magazine that he was infected by an ex-boyfriend who hadn’t disclosed his status. Poodle said he pressed charges and the ex is now serving a five-year prison sentence. He said turning his ex in ‘was the right thing to do.’
‘They are great tests and I wholeheartedly support their use,’ said Dr. Mark Thrun, director of HIV Prevention and STD Control for Denver Public Health. ‘They allow people to be tested whenever and wherever they want, and in the comfort and confidence of their own home.’
I had just been serosorted; that term is for the act of sorting out guys by their HIV status. It had happened to me often online, but never to my face.
Brent, A few weeks ago I was diagnosed HIV-positive. It was a total shock.
Feb. 6, 2013 Cover Story – Real local stories from Colorado LGBT couples in love
