I found out I was HIV positive last year; I went with a friend. They were going to get tested, and I figured, “I'm here, why not get it done?” It was my birthday, so it’s only been about a year and a couple of months now since I found out. Before that, I never really...
Sometime between July of 2020 to July of 2021, I contracted HIV. I had a motorcycle accident where I crashed the motorcycle and went to the hospital from the scene. They did bloodwork and they called me 3 days later and told me I had HIV. I was out for a ride on the...
At around 18 years old, I was just starting to get into not only the gay community but also into the leather community. I was navigating trying to find my own place. During my first big relationship, I ignored some of the red flags and some initial mistreatments. The...
It's been 26 years since my sister passed. My sister got it from a guy that came out of prison. She was 33 when she passed, I was 34. My sister was the first. My hero was the second, that's my dad. Then my dad’s brother, my uncle and then my stepmom. I guess what hurt...
I was searching online for where I could get an HIV test. That's how I found out about Broward House. I called up and got some information to see if I needed an appointment and what the process was. Broward House was open for walk-ins, so I went there. I had not been...
I had been in the homeless shelter for four months. While I was there, I had a seizure first and then a stroke. My whole left side was paralyzed. I couldn’t move it. The doctor wanted to find out why I had a seizure, so they told me they were going to run some tests...
My name is Jennifer and I am a 37-year-old white woman living with HIV. Since I was young, music has always been a passion of mine. In high school, I played percussion for our marching band and later received a Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of...
When I came out as gay to my mom at 17 years old, she gave me a talk about the birds and the bees. She told me to not always tell people about being gay because they may not understand, and she warned me about contracting HIV. Her perspective was that, once you...
I get tested for HIV and STIs because my values dictate that I get tested when I enter a new relationship with someone. Someone close to me explained that it was a good idea to do that, and it made sense to me. I didn’t always practice this previously because I didn’t...
In 2011, I was a pastor of a church. I just wrote my first book, and my wife was cheating on me a lot. I had a mental breakdown. I quit my job at the church. I left my family because it was devastating to me that she could just keep cheating on me like that when we...