A different and more personal post for #WorldsAidsDay this year.

I was too shy and nervous to be sexually active much before I met my now-wife, and we were monogamous for most of the 25 years we’ve been together. As such, it wasn’t until we opened up that I’d ever done an STI test.

I grew up in the AIDS crisis, and I lived through Section 28. Regardless of my sexuality, it was a time when sex felt impossibly risky, even dirty. (I use that word very carefully, knowing its legacy.)

Today is #worldsaidsday . For some LGBTQ folks in the US HIV/AIDS might feel like recalling a bad nightmare, or maybe even an urban legend.

This week I was involved in the care of a young man, first diagnosed with COVID. His condition started to get really weird. Now intubated and not expected to live, this young man of color who had sex with other men is dying of AIDS…in 2022.

In reality, he’s dying because of homophobia, stigma, racism, and lack of access to PrEP.

#silenceequalsdeath

#worldsaidsday has always brought back profoundly sad memories for me. Losing so many friends in the 80's and 90's. People just disappearing off the scene, or "gone home". Watching adverts in the cinema of a tombstone with AIDS written on it.

HIV is no longer the death sentence that it was, but the stigma still remains.

PrEP is now widely available
Science has proven U=U

But education and understanding are still our best way to finally end the pandemic.

well ive gone thru near 1500 photos from #worldsaidsday
picked & got 215 that show the fun we had thru the night.

was a pleasure to be part of it, since i had been at work since 11am until 1am
all fun & games

ill post up a link once they are active on the page for my work on facehate

#LGBT #gay #awareness #dragqueen #drag #dragact