POZ January/February 2020

A SMART+STRONG PUBLICATION JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ.COM $3.99

H E A L T H ,

L I F E

Carry On

Mykki Blanco is thriving with HIV

&

H I V

CONTENTS

EXCLUSIVELY ON

POZ.COM #UNDETECTABLE SCIENCE, NOT STIGMA

The science is clear: People who have an undetectable viral load can’t transmit HIV sexually. In addition to keeping people healthy, effective HIV treatment also means HIV prevention.

Go to poz.com/undetectable for more information and the latest updates.

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POZ BLOGS

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES Our roster of bloggers spans the diversity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Go to poz.com/blogs to read varying points of view from people living with the virus as well as from HIV-negative advocates. Join the conversation in the comments section.

Find hope and inspiration from others.

Joyce Turner Keller fights HIV stigma in the church.

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COMMENTARY ON HIV/AIDS Advocates, researchers, politicians, thought leaders and folks just like you all have ideas worth sharing. Go to poz.com/opinions to read about topics such as living with HIV, improving care and treatment, increasing prevention efforts and fighting for social justice.

POZ DIGITAL

READ THE PRINT MAGAZINE ON YOUR COMPUTER OR TABLET

28 CARRY ON Rapper, poet and activist Mykki Blanco is thriving with HIV. BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI 36 BELIEVE IN HOPE We must fight through our collective trauma to begin the process of renewal. BY MARK S. KING

3 FROM THE EDITOR

21 ASK POZ

I’m Coming Out

Wellness tips from POZ.com

4 POZ Q+A

22 CARE AND TREATMENT

George Ayala, executive director of MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, explains the HIV2020 conference.

6 POZ PLANET Meet the man who made over 10,000 HIV portraits • He Is Valuable • Everyday

12 VOICES Remembrances of late activists Pedro Zamora and Sean Sasser Go to poz.com/digital to view the current issue and the entire Smart + Strong digital library.

16 SPOTLIGHT Social media buzz on the 2019 POZ 100, which celebrated transgender, gendernonconforming and nonbinary advocates

Trogarzo bests highly resistant HIV • kidney transplant success • fatty liver risk in those with HIV and hepatitis C • are you in for integrase-driven weight gain?

27 RESEARCH NOTES

A new look at the RV144 HIV vaccine • microneedle patches to deliver treatment and PrEP • cracking CRISPR gene editing to cure HIV • STIs keep rising

40 HEROES Joyce Turner Keller’s Christian faith helped her deal with an HIV diagnosis. Now she battles stigma and teaches about U=U and HIV prevention to churches in Louisiana.

POZ (ISSN 1075-5705) is published monthly except for the January/February, April/May, July/August and October/November issues ($19.97 for an 8-issue subscription) by Smart + Strong, 212 West 35th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Issue No. 241. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to POZ, 212 West 35th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Copyright © 2020 CDM Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. Smart + Strong® and POZ® are registered trademarks of CDM Publishing, LLC.

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POZ OPINIONS

FROM THE EDITOR

I’m Coming Out

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STILL REMEMBER HOW excited I felt in 2015 when I heard about a rapper by the name of Mykki Blanco coming out about living with HIV. I didn’t really know much about Mykki back then, but I understood the potential stigma-busting aspect of this disclosure.

After the initial posts via social media and the accompanying media coverage— including on POZ.com—I was eager to see what was next. After all, POZ is at its best when we tell the stories of people living with HIV. Artistically, things moved along nicely for Mykki. So much so that I admittedly was just hoping for a moment that made sense to reach out for an interview.

Then, in 2019, the Madonna music video happened. In “Dark Ballet,” Mykki plays a persecuted Joan of Arc, at times lip-synching as Madonna sings. The video ends with a quote from Mykki: “I have walked this earth, Black, Queer and HIV positive, but no transgression against me has been as powerful as the hope I hold within.” Well, I had found my moment.

I immediately did a little searching and found out that Mykki’s second full-length album was slated for 2020. The next step was reaching out. As luck would have it, Mykki was going to give a master lecture at the 2019 United States Conference on AIDS. The stars aligned. We connected at the conference.

Mykki wanted to share with POZ. In between recording new songs for the upcoming album, Mykki gave us an exclusive interview and photo shoot. The cover image and the accompanying photos were taken in Lisbon. POZ thanks Mykki and all the people who helped make this happen. Go to page 28 to read how the rapper, poet and activist is thriving with HIV. One of the joys of working at POZ is the ability to uplift the voices of all people living with HIV—from the famous, such as Mykki,

to the maybe-not-world-famous-but-famous-tous, like Mark S. King. Mark never disappoints in eloquently sharing his personal views and, in the process, channeling the emotions of so many people. Go to page 36 to read his essay on believing in hope in 2020.

Providing opportunities to those among us who are often overlooked and underrepresented is also what the organizers of HIV2020 are trying to do. The alternative to the AIDS 2020 conference will be held July 5 to 7 in Mexico City. To learn more about HIV2020, go to page 4 and read a Q&A with George Ayala, founding executive director of MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, one of the event’s organizers.

This special issue on African Americans also includes a profile of Joyce Turner Keller.

Go to page 40 to read about her journey living with HIV for nearly two decades. Go to page 10 to learn more about He Is Valuable, an Atlanta group for Black queer men giving new meaning to HIV. For a remembrance of the late activist Sean Sasser, go to page 15.

ORIOL R. GUTIERREZ JR. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor-in-chief@poz.com

Want to read more from Oriol? Follow him on Twitter @oriolgutierrez and check out blogs.poz.com/oriol.

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 3

POZ Q+A

BY ALICIA GREEN

HIV2020 will take place in Mexico City.

POSITIVE RESPONSE

G

EORGE AYALA IS FOUNDING EXECU TI V E DIRECTOR OF MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, which is based in Oakland, California. MPact is one of the organizers of the HIV2020 conference to be held July 5 to 7 in Mexico City. HIV2020 was organized as an alternative to the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020), which will take place July 6 to 10 in San Francisco and Oakland. The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the sponsor of AIDS 2020.

In addition to MPact, some of the other HIV2020 organizers include the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS. In 2009, Ayala assumed his current role at MPact, which requires him to conduct policy analyses and advise policymakers on issues concerning HIV and men who have sex with men (MSM) and other marginalized communities around the world.

He has held HIV-related positions at the Hispanic AIDS Forum; the University of California, San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services; and AIDS Project of Los Angeles (now APLA Health).

How did the idea for HIV2020 originate?

Advocates had raised concerns when the IAS conference came to Washington, DC, in 2012. [IAS holds these conferences every other year.] At that time, the United States had discriminatory travel restrictions, which still remain, directed at people who are sex workers, use drugs or have histories of incarceration. Internationally, those communities represent significant portions of the people most affected by HIV.

4 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

Despite raising those concerns, AIDS 2012 came here anyway. I believe IAS decided to come partly because the Obama administration lifted what was then a travel restriction on all people living with HIV, which was an important policy win.

When advocates from groups such as MPact, NSWP, INPUD and GNP+ learned in 2017 that the United States was shortlisted to host AIDS 2018, we organized. That effort was successful.

We got Amsterdam to host AIDS 2018.

In 2018, we knew that the United States was shortlisted for AIDS 2020. We organized again. This time we added our concern about the deteriorating human rights conditions here in the United States, mainly for migrants but also for people of color and queer people.

Regardless, IAS went ahead with their decision to come to the Bay Area.

As a result, MPact joined forces with the other networks to create an alternative event that we called HIV2020.

Why choose Mexico City for HIV2020?

There is symbolic significance to our

ISTOCK

“Community Reclaiming the Global Response” is the theme of the HIV2020 conference in Mexico City.

gathering in Mexico. Activists there are facing challenges of their own. We wanted to have thoughtful conversations with them. We consulted with them about whether it made sense for us to come to Mexico. They are actually really jazzed about HIV2020.

The Mexican activists wanted to connect their own experiences with those of activists around the world, who are also struggling to keep a window open for participation for civil society organizations involved in the HIV response.

We wanted to go to the Global South.

We also wanted to be in a city where we wouldn’t have so many time zones to contend with in case we had the opportunity to connect with what’s happening at AIDS 2020. Further, we wanted to gather in a country where we could manage travel of criminalized and stigmatized groups from around the world.

For all these reasons, Mexico City made a lot of sense.

ANGELA DECENZO

What are the goals of HIV2020?

We want to create a safe space where people who are interested in thinking about their role in the global HIV response can have an equal place at the table. We believe we can model a different way of convening people.

We imagine a convening around developments in the HIV field, but we also believe that community members should be equal partners around the table when we are deliberating lessons learned, new science, etc.

The IAS conferences privilege people such as scientists, researchers, clinicians and government officials. Often, advocates show up to these conferences but are sidelined. We are literally segregated from the rest of the conference.

A community space does exist at IAS conferences called the Global Village— where great things happen—but there is a real feeling that communities are excluded from the main scientific discussions. We need to change that.

Apart from all of that, we will use HIV2020 to amplify the voices of those who are working across social justice movements. In particular, we will draw attention to the struggles of activists in Mexico and Latin America.

Tell us about the HIV2020 agenda.

Day one will give groups and networks a chance to gather their own people to have in-house conversations that might not otherwise happen in other places.

That is affinity. It’s about being with other activists, sex workers, trans people, queer people and migrants. We are having those conversations to start.

The second day is about intersectionality. We will issue a call for expressions of interest from community-based organizations, universities, governments and whoever is interested in throwing in proposals. We are inviting people to lead half-day and full-day programs around issues aligned with the priorities, themes and goals of HIV2020.

On day three, we want to bring it all together, connecting the dots for people.

We want to give folks an opportunity to

George Ayala

We will raise as much money as we can to get as many activists as possible to Mexico City.

We will do that in a number of ways— through grant writing and campaigning big AIDS service organizations in different parts of the world that might be willing to support activists within their respective countries or regions.

The cost of doing a conference like this in a place like Mexico City is less than doing so in the Bay Area. We will be saving some money that way.

How can people support HIV2020?

We know that folks will probably feel conflicted about which conference to attend. Go where you believe you can have impact and where you think your voice can be heard. Attend either or both if you have the means. We recognize

“We believe we can model a different way of convening.”

comment on the work that happened in the previous two days and to create an action plan or talking points around the importance of communities and their role in the global HIV response.

In particular, we will end the three days with a set of recommendations about how we continue to center community. We’ll also create a set of specific recommendations to send back to IAS. We are hoping our event will influence the way IAS conducts itself in the future.

How will HIV2020 be funded?

We are going to fundraise. We will keep our overhead costs as low as possible.

We are working with Mexico City government officials to identify free space.

That will allow us to direct any funds we raise toward supporting scholarships.

that a lot of folks in our community will be in the Bay Area participating, and we want to support them too.

Hopefully, we will figure out ways to connect with what’s happening in the United States from Mexico City. I feel confident that our conversations with IAS moving forward will be positive in that regard. They are realizing that HIV2020 represents an opportunity to expand space for people to be involved.

Spread the word about HIV2020.

Raise awareness about why we are doing what we are doing; issue statements of solidarity; and help us leverage resources to support the participation of community activists. If people are interested in working with us on logistics, programming or communication, contact us or sign up at HIV2020.org. ■

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 5

POZ PLANET

BY TRENT STRAUBE

THE MAN WHO MADE OVER 10,000 HIV PORTRAITS

6 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

“I’ve lost count of how many people have used this platform to go public [about their HIV status],” Zee tells POZ. “Imagine getting a request from a 31-year-old female HIV survivor who has been hiding her status, then uses your frame as a Facebook profile picture and a way to tell family and friends. This is what I’m most proud of. After all, going public is the only way stigma ends.”

CREDIT HERE

If you’re part of the HIV community and use social media, then you’ve likely seen the handiwork of Michael Zalnasky, best known as Zee Strong.

In November 2017, he and Henry Calderon Jr. launched a Facebook group to honor people with HIV as well as those lost to the epidemic. It was an instant hit, partly because Zee posted selfies he had spruced up with “frames,” HIV-related graphics he created on his iPhone using free apps. Folks liked the frames so much that they requested he create some for their own pictures. And so The Digital Living Quilt came to be.

Within two years, Zee had created more than 10,000 images, which can be divided into about 120 Samples of the “albums,” as digital frames Zee Zee refers to Strong has been each uniquely creating for people since designed frame November 2017. promoting a Several of them— particular HIV like this “I Am HIV theme. A few Undetectable”— examples are: feature Zee. “I Want a Cure,” “Trans Rights Are Human Rights,” “Stigma Sucks,” “Positive Women: Alive & Well Living” and “I Am HIV Undetectable.” There’s also the “Luca the Med Reminder” series based on Zee’s grandson, who as a preschooler would pester “Papa” to take his meds so he’d have enough strength to play with him.

Both Luca and his mom are HIV negative, notes Zee, who turns 60 in January and lives in Wilton Manors, Florida; he has been disabled since being diagnosed with AIDS in 2014.

Zee estimates that about a quarter of the quilt participants are HIV negative, and he’s thrilled to amplify their support.

As a heterosexual man, he also speaks out for HIV awareness among that often overlooked population.

People from across the globe request personalized frames from Zee, reaching out to him via email and the Facebook group titled The Digital Living Quilt @ AIDS HIV Survivor Living Memorial. Zee posts the finished frames on the group’s page, often along with the person’s HIV story.

You can also view a library of over 10,700 posts on Instagram via @zeestrong.

ALL IMAGES: COURTESY OF ZEE STRONG

Meet Zee Strong and The Digital Living Quilt.

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 7

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

(bik-TAR-vee)

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including:

BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including: } Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section. } Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY. } Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY. } Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. } Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. } The most common side effects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%).

} Worsening of Hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you

have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

ABOUT BIKTARVY BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements.

BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains: } dofetilide } rifampin } any other medicines to treat HIV-1

BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: } Have or have had any kidney or liver problems,

These are not all the possible side effects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY.

including hepatitis infection. } Have any other health problems. } Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby.

Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY. } Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:

Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

} Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-

counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

} BIKTARVY and other medicines may affect each other.

Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.

Get HIV support by downloading a free app at

MyDailyCharge.com

GET MORE INFORMATION } This is only a brief summary of important information

about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

} Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5. } If you need help paying for your medicine,

visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, DAILY CHARGE, the DAILY CHARGE Logo, KEEP ASPIRING, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies.

Version date: December 2018 © 2019 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. BVYC0102 01/19

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KEEP ASPIRING.

Because HIV doesn’t change who you are.

BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you.

To learn more, visit BIKTARVY.com.

Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com.

PZA506720B.pgs 01.25.2019 19:50

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POZ PLANET

BY TRENT STRAUBE

He Is Valuable This Atlanta group for Black queer men gives new meaning to HIV. “The goal of our organization is to reinforce, identify and celebrate the value of Black queer men.” That’s how cofounder and marketing director Kendall Boone Jr. describes the work of He Is Valuable, Inc. (HIV). A nonprofit based in Atlanta—considered the unofficial Black gay mecca of the United States— He Is Valuable throws Random Kickback parties to build community, holds weekly discussion groups called Chit, Chat & Chew and livestreams a monthly talk show with executive director Richard Hutchinson Jr. called RAW Talk With Rich (RAW stands for Ready And Willing).

And through its He Gives Back program, the group also hosts clothing and food drives, sex education talks and other services, including those related to HIV.

Clockwise from top left: grooms Dominic Totten and AJ Reynolds; Michael Chancely, Justin Davis and Jerald Nuness at a He Gives Back food drive; and HIV directors AJ Reynolds, Kendall Boone Jr., Richard Hutchinson Jr. and D’Angelo Morrison

making an impact. In October, the group celebrated the same-gender wedding of staffer AJ Reynolds to Dominic Totten.

“The wedding,” Reynolds says, “was the perfect example of what is possible for Black queer men.”

These dates represent milestones in the HIV epidemic and are part of an ongoing art project with Visual AIDS. For more, visit poz.com/aidsiseveryday poz.com/aidsiseveryday.

Established to advocate for global action to combat the epidemic and to coordinate HIV/AIDS efforts across the U.N. system, the JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) commences operations. (1996)

1

21

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends POSTEXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS (PEP) for people exposed to HIV, saying treatment should start no more than 72 hours after a person has been exposed to the virus. (2005)

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THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA is established as a partnership between governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and affected communities designed to accelerate the end of AIDS. (2002)

10 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

February

6

Professional tennis player ARTHUR ASHE dies of an AIDS-related illness. (1993)

7

NATIONAL BLACK HIV/ AIDS AWARENESS DAY

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THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE WITH AIDS (NAPWA) announces it has ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy. (2013)

The first episode of the miniseries WHEN WE RISE airs on ABC. The epic retelling of the LGBT civil rights movement spans four decades and is based on real-life pioneers.

(2017)

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(HE IS VALUABLE IMAGES) COURTESY OF HE IS VALUABLE; (GLOBE AND STAMP) ISTOCK

EVERYDAY January

“He Is Valuable addresses HIV by addressing the entire person, not just the HIV status,” explains Boone. For example, he says, the organization helps people attain employment, mental health services and linkage to HIV care.

“Social determinants of health are more accurate predictors of a person’s seroconversion than solely being Black and gay—which is often portrayed as the face of the epidemic.”

Look for big changes in 2020, notably the inaugural He Is Valuable gala and the launch of He Is Supported, a partnership with the Southern Impact Fund (a grantmaking program of AIDS United) that will allow He Is Valuable to amplify its work.

He Is Valuable’s message is already

ALL CAUSES HAVE ADVOCATES. BUT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV ONLY A CHAMPION WILL DO. Introducing Vivent Health, founded on the combined expertise of AIDS Resource

Center of Wisconsin, Rocky Mountain CARES and St. Louis Effort for AIDS. And steadfastly dedicated to serving anyone and everyone affected by HIV through our comprehensive prevention, care and treatment programs. Learn more at ViventHealth.org

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VOICES BLOGS AND OPINIONS FROM POZ.COM

seen on television.

And then he died—a few hours after the final episode of his season aired. I was devastated.

And any part of me that was thinking about coming out of my own shell and speaking openly about HIV quickly retreated.

The following year, a Real World reunion special on MTV brought together castmates from the first three seasons in the name of nostalgia and drama. Pedro’s boyfriend, Sean Sasser, spoke briefly. He was also HIV positive. He looked healthy; I was relieved.

(See page 15 for a remembrance of Sasser.)

The moment that really helped me was when Judd Winick, one of Pedro’s roommates and someone he’d really connected with, explained why he wasn’t exactly feeling the feels at this reunion.

Pedro wasn’t there. It didn’t feel right. Judd was still in mourning. And even though I was just a viewer on the other side of the TV, I realized that I was still in mourning too. Judd implored people to do something about HIV. Anything. And his words resonated.

I didn’t realize it immediately, but I know that when I put up a website the following year, in 1996, and opened up for the first time about HIV, Judd’s words had their intended effect.

The majority of the past 25 years of my life have been, in some way, focused on my experiences with HIV. I love educating, and I feel good about my contributions to breaking stigma. Part of that is helping people who are still in their shells.

After I put up my website, my life just felt different. A weight that I didn’t even know I was carrying had been lifted. I wasn’t vulnerable to seeing a depressing news article about HIV. I wasn’t worried about having to tell a future girlfriend about my status.

I learned how small the “out AIDS community” really was too when I got to meet Sean Sasser in person. I was so starstruck. When I initially emailed him out of the blue, he responded by saying he knew who I was through my POZ column. During a POZ Life Expo in San Francisco, I even got to spend a couple of nights at his place.

A year or so later, I got to meet Judd at a book event.

He was very friendly. These days, we have quite the rapport on Twitter.

Unlike with Pedro, whom I never got to meet, and Sean, whom I was too much of a noob with to properly thank, I was able to tell Judd how much his presence on The Real World, his words at the reunion special and his graphic novel Pedro and Me (2000) meant to me.

Twenty-five years ago, Pedro died. My heart ached at the loss. It cringed at the thought that I was probably going to die eventually too. I retreated to my shell, but no longer did I comfortably fit inside it. And part of outgrowing it had a lot to do with Pedro. What a shame it would have been if I’d allowed his death to cancel out everything that his life had represented—and still does. ■ Pedro Zamora on the August/ September 1994 cover of POZ

REAL SPIRIT In a blog post titled “25 Years Without Pedro Zamora,” POZ contributing writer Shawn Decker looks back at how the late activist’s appearance on The Real World inspired him. Below is an edited excerpt.

N

ovember 11, 2019, marks 25 years since Pedro Zamora passed to spirit. His life inspired me to peek out from my own HIV shell. When he was on MTV’s The Real World in 1994, I was avoiding the media’s coverage of HIV because I found it to be depressing.

Then came Pedro, walking right into the middle of one of my favorite TV shows. He was full of life. He laughed easily.

He made new friends with most of his new roommates and costars. He was also living with HIV openly.

Most important to me was that this wasn’t the fictitious character with HIV who always died by episode’s end. This was reality TV. And he was the most real thing I’d ever

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VOICES BLOGS AND OPINIONS FROM POZ.COM

51st birthday, which was October 25.

Already a well-respected advocate and educator when he first appeared on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco, which aired in 1994, Sean offered a critical counternarrative around how Black gay men and people living with HIV were imagined and depicted on television. Although he was not a regular cast member—he was the partner of Pedro Zamora—Sean’s impact was significant.

Each season, particularly at its peak, viewers tuned in to see “seven strangers picked to live in a house” and share themselves with the world so that the viewers could “find out what happens when people stop being polite…and start getting real.” This show was the great-granddaddy of reality TV shows and a defining moment for Generation X as we learned about ourselves through watching the show’s stars navigate the same stuff we navigated.

The Real World: San Francisco introduced Pedro Zamora (one of the first openly gay men living with HIV and one of the first gay men of color to be portrayed in popular media). On the show, we witnessed the journey of Pedro’s relationship with Sean, culminating in their commitment ceremony, a television first. Seeing two gay men of color in love offered a generation of us a vision of what the possibilities were for us. (See page 12 for a remembrance of Zamora.)

Sean’s presence on The Real World as a Black gay man challenged assumptions as he projected dignity and grace, shattering stereotypes by not assimilating and by transcending them. He offered inspiration to those of us who had been pushed into the margins. This was a time when the popular sketch comedy show In Living Color (one notable sketch, “Men on Film,” trafficked in many antigay stereotypes) broadcast on the Fox network would be going off the air as The Real World: San Francisco would premiere.

Sean, through his presence on The Real World—and his legacy in advocacy—offers us a story about Black gay boys who dream, then become Black gay men who fight. Robbed of his voice, he found it as an educator and an advocate, and, though he perhaps did not know it at the time, he spoke not only for us but to us. Sean demonstrated that whether you whisper or yell, the content of your message is as powerful as its volume.

For many of us, including Black gay boys who grew up watching The Real World, bearing witness to his story and the fullness of his narrative provided an example and blueprint for what it meant to be Black and gay.

Sean aspired to be an archaeologist in his early life. We should act as archaeologists excavating in our movement history the forgotten memories and lessons learned to guide our current efforts. And we must continue to amplify the names of those who came before us.

Additionally, like archaeologists, we must continue putting the pieces together to let the next generation and even ourselves know that we, too, exist and are not extinct.

Thank you, Sean. ■ Sean Sasser on the June 1997 cover of POZ

REAL IMPACT In an opinion piece titled “Remembering Sean Sasser,” Marvell L. Terry II of AIDS United and Charles Stephens of the Counter Narrative Project reflect on the late activist’s legacy. Below is an edited excerpt.

V

isibility in popular culture can be a risky endeavor for marginalized folks. The platform offered by a mass audience gives one an immediate megaphone.

How can it not be seductive to have an opportunity to move hearts and minds, if not policy and funding? And yet, you are scrutinized and picked apart, carrying both the burden of history and that of representation on your shoulders.

This pressure can be crushing. However, when done right, worlds open up.

Sean Sasser got it right. Let us reflect on his legacy on his

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 15

SPOTLIGHT

BY JOE MEJĂ?A

Praise for the POZ 100 The December 2019 issue of POZ celebrated 100 transgender, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary (TGNCNB) advocates who are combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic and promoting trans visibility in myriad ways. Some honorees work for AIDS organizations administering HIV tests and connecting people with the virus to care; others fight HIV through political action, journalism or the arts. Some are millennials relatively new to advocacy; others have been speaking up for decades. Some are living with the virus, and others are not.

What these 100 heroes have in common is the conviction to fight for better access to health care as well as housing and employment opportunities in the face of stigma and prejudice.

At a time when 14% of all trans women and 44% of Black trans women are HIV positive and data on HIV among trans men is lacking, there is a lot of work left to do. The good news is, TGNCNB people are increasingly being recognized for providing us with a blueprint for how that work is to be done, and for that, folks have been expressing their gratitude on social media.

Posts may be edited for clarity and/or space.

16 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 17

YOU MATTER AND SO DOES YOUR HEALTH

That’s why starting and staying on HIV-1 treatment is so important.

DISCOVER HOW TO TAKE DESCOVY

PART OF ONE PILL, ONCE A DAY DESCOVY combined with other medicines in 1 pill is a complete treatment.

MULTI-PILL TREATMENT OR

One DESCOVY pill + other medicines is a complete treatment.

DESCOVY itself is not a complete treatment; it must be taken with other medicines. Do not change your dose or stop taking DESCOVY without first talking with your healthcare provider.

Ask your healthcare provider if an HIV-1 treatment that contains DESCOVY® is right for you.

What is DESCOVY?

What are the other possible side effects of DESCOVY?

DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used Serious side effects of DESCOVY may also include: together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 • Changes in your immune system. Your immune in people who weigh at least 77 lbs (35kg). Do not system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. use DESCOVY to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new infection through sexual contact. DESCOVY combines symptoms after you start taking DESCOVY. 2 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day. Because • Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your DESCOVY by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1, healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests it must be used together with other HIV-1 medicines. to check your kidneys. Your healthcare provider may DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the tell you to stop taking DESCOVY if you develop new or virus that causes AIDS. worse kidney problems.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about DESCOVY? DESCOVY may cause serious side effects: • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking DESCOVY, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

• Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.

Get HIV support by downloading a free app at

MyDailyCharge.com

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• Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking DESCOVY?

• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if DESCOVY can harm your unborn baby.

Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking DESCOVY. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda. gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

• All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

• All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how DESCOVY works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take DESCOVY with all of your other medicines.

Please see Important Facts about DESCOVY, including important warnings, on the following page.

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IMPORTANT FACTS This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment. ®

(des-KOH-vee) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT DESCOVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF DESCOVY

DESCOVY may cause serious side effects, including: • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking DESCOVY. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

DESCOVY can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About DESCOVY” section.

• Changes in your immune system.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.

• Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea.

These are not all the possible side effects of DESCOVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking DESCOVY. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with DESCOVY.

ABOUT DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people who weigh at least 77 lbs (35kg). DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

BEFORE TAKING DESCOVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical condition.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with DESCOVY.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

• Go to DESCOVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit DESCOVY.com for program information.

HOW TO TAKE DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a one pill, once a day HIV-1 medicine that is taken with other HIV-1 medicines.

• Take DESCOVY with or without food.

DESCOVY, the DESCOVY Logo, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: September 2017 © 2019 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. DVYC0119 09/19

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ASK POZ WELLNESS TIPS FROM POZ.COM

What is the healthiest diet?

Despite spending billions of dollars investigating this question, experts don’t agree on what is the healthiest diet. The issue is further complicated by our own individual requirements, such as the need to monitor salt or fat intake, the need to gain or lose weight and so on. Religious, moral and cultural traditions also influence our diets.

However, experts do agree on a few fundamentals. No one thinks added sugar is healthy, especially in excess. The same is true for consuming processed foods and overeating.

Most experts recommend keeping sodium on the low side.

To explore healthy diet options, visit Oldways Preservation Trust, an organization that applies the principles of the Mediterranean diet to other traditional diets, including African, Asian, Latin American, vegetarian and vegan.

Visit oldwayspt.org for more information.

—LKP

ARE VACCINES SAFE? In addition to being generally safe, vaccines prevent serious, sometimes deadly, diseases. However, vaccines are not the right option for everyone.

ALLIMAGES: ISTOCK

Before being vaccinated, you should be given written information, including questions to determine whether the vaccine you are considering is safe for you.

People who are allergic to eggs (some vaccines may have small amounts of egg protein in them) or have had an allergic reaction to prior vaccines should be immunized under specific medical protocols.

The same applies to people who have a compromised immune system, such as people living with HIV or those undergoing chemotherapy. No one with a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome (a severe skin reaction) within six weeks of a previous immunization should be vaccinated.

Each vaccine has its own checklist; if you meet the basic criteria, you should be safe. After receiving the shot, you may “feel like you’re coming down with something.”

This is a normal reaction, usually meaning that your body is building an immune response. It is also normal to feel sore at the site where you received the shot.

—Lucinda K. Porter, RN

Ask POZ is an ongoing section on POZ.com dedicated to answering general wellness questions. Go to poz.com/ask to read more answers, and email ask@poz.com to submit your questions!

How often should I get my cholesterol checked?

The American Heart Association recommends that all adults 20 or older have their cholesterol checked every four to six years.

However, more frequent screening is recommended for people with certain risk factors. These include: • a family history of heart disease or high blood cholesterol; • diabetes; • older age; • being male; • being overweight; and • a high cholesterol result on a previous test.

February is American Heart Month. Visit heart.org for more information on cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease.

—LKP

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 21

CARE AND TREATMENT

BY BENJAMIN RYAN

Kidney Transplant Success

TROGARZO BESTS HIGHLY RESISTANT HIV Trogarzo (ibalizumab) suppressed HIV for 48 weeks in nearly half of people with highly drug-resistant virus.

The monoclonal antibody, which is injected every two weeks, was approved in 2018 for people who have taken multiple antiretroviral regimens and have multidrug-resistant HIV. The study included 38 people with a median CD4 count of 26 and a median viral load of 50,000. Their virus was resistant to antiretrovirals from at least three classes but remained fully sensitive to at least one drug. They received Trogarzo plus a daily oral antiretroviral regimen optimized to work as well as possible.

Among the 24 participants who completed 24 weeks of treatment, 46% had viral loads below 50. The median CD4 count rose by about 30.

Among the 17 people who stayed on Trogarzo for 48 weeks, 47% maintained an undetectable viral load.

These findings were similar to those of the Phase III clinical trial of 40 individuals that led to Trogarzo’s approval.

Trogarzo was generally safe and well tolerated. The most common adverse events in both studies were diarrhea, headache, nausea, cough, skin rash and fatigue, which were mostly mild or moderate.

According to the new study’s lead author, Brinda Emu, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Yale University, Trogarzo “provides an important opportunity for patients with drug-resistant HIV to get significant virologic benefit.”

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People with HIV who receive kidney transplants from deceased HIV-positive donors have high long-term success rates and are not at apparent risk of superinfection, as the acquisition of a second, distinct strain of the virus is known. That is according to a study of 51 South Africans with HIV who received kidney transplants from such donors starting in 2008.

The HIV population has a higher rate of end-stage kidney disease because of harm caused by the virus as well as various other health conditions that often occur in this population. In addition, certain antiretrovirals are associated with kidney toxicities.

“There has been for such a long time such a shortage of organs for people who are HIV positive,” says Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was behind the new research.

Five years following transplantation, 83% of the participants were still living, and 79% still had a functioning transplanted kidney.

All the participants had a fully suppressed viral load upon receipt of their transplanted kidneys. No one who adhered to their antiretroviral regimen developed a detectable viral load.

The investigators conducted genetic sequencing of the organ donors’ viruses and monitored the transplantees over time to see whether they developed superinfection. Just one person did so, and only on a transient basis.

FATTY LIVER RISK IN THOSE WITH HIV & HEP C Among people who have HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection, fatty liver disease is associated with a higher risk of death.

Researchers analyzed data on nearly 1,000 French people with both HIV and HCV who were followed for a median of five years.

The study looked at the cohort members’ fatty liver index (FLI) score. This number is calculated using body mass index, waist circumference, triglycerides and gamma glutamyl transferase liver enzymes. A score below 30 indicates a lack of fatty liver disease, while a score of 60 or higher suggests the condition is present.

At the study’s outset, nearly 30% of the cohort members had a fatty liver index score of at least 60. Twelve percent had a score that high at all study visits, and 31% had scores both above and below 60 at some point during the study.

During the study’s follow-up period, 63 people died. Of these deaths, 40% were due to hepatitis C, 13% were due to cancers not related to HIV or hepatitis, 11% were due to AIDS-related illnesses and 5% were attributable to cardiovascular disease.

After controlling the data to account for various factors,

the study authors found that those who entered the study with an FLI score of at least 60, compared with those who started with a score below 60, were nearly twice as likely to die during follow-up.

The researchers found that those with a history of liver cancer or transplantation at the study’s outset were nearly eight times more likely to die during follow-up. Other factors associated with a greater risk of death included having advanced liver fibrosis or signs of cirrhosis, advanced HIV disease and uncured HCV. “FLI deserves more attention as a pragmatic screening tool in clinical practice,” says the study’s lead author, Maria Patrizia Carrieri, PhD, of Aix-Marseille University in France.

“It can also offer the opportunity to address modifiable risk factors, such as lack of physical activity, and can propose interventions to modify them.”

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Are You in for Integrase-Driven Weight Gain?

After people with HIV switch their antiretrovirals (ARVs) to include an integrase inhibitor, what factors are linked to a rise in body weight?

Integrase inhibitors include Isentress (raltegravir); elvitegravir, which is a component of the Genvoya and Stribild combination pills; bictegravir, which is included in Biktarvy; and Tivicay (dolutegravir), which is included in Triumeq, Juluca and Dovato. The long-acting injectable regimen Cabenuva, which was awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval at press time, includes the new integrase inhibitor cabotegravir. (For a complete listing of the components of ARV coformulations, please visit POZ.com/basics/ hiv-basics/hiv-medications.)

Researchers at George Washington University analyzed data on 260 people living with HIV in Washington, DC, who switched to

an integrase inhibitor regimen from a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor regimen (107 people) or a protease inhibitor regimen (97 people).

After 18 months, those who switched regimens, compared with the 56 people who remained on their existing regimen, gained more weight (6 pounds versus 1 pound) and gained a greater percentage of their body weight (3.6% versus 0.7%). In addition, when comparing weight gain during the 18 months before the medication switch versus the following 18 months, those who changed regimens gained more weight during the latter period.

Gaining weight following a switch to an integrase inhibitor was associated with initially weighing less than 150 pounds. Such individuals gained

6.6% of their body weight, compared with a 3.0% gain among those weighing 150 to 200 pounds and a 2.3% gain among those weighing more than 200 pounds.

Those who had a normal body weight, those who were overweight and those who were obese gained 4.9%, 2.8% and 2.4% of their body weight, respectively.

Lastly, older individuals gained less weight after switching medications than younger people.

The investigators called for research to assess changes in metabolic factors, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, among those switching to integrase inhibitors in hopes of identifying mechanisms by which the drug class promotes weight gain.

Got Ink? An estimated 3–5 million Americans are living with hepatitis C. Most don’t know it.

Get tested today.

THINKSTOCK (MOEL USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY)

Find out how at hepmag.com.

RESEARCH NOTES

BY BENJAMIN RYAN

PREVENTION

TREATMENT

CURE

CONCERNS

The only HIV vaccine regimen to demonstrate any success— a 31% risk reduction among Thai volunteers a decade ago—has prompted strong immune responses in a new trial in South Africa. Consequently, researchers now think it may not be necessary to tailor HIV vaccines to the predominant strains of the virus in different world regions. The RV144 vaccine regimen uses a “prime-boost” strategy that combines two vaccines based on clades, or subgroups, B and E of the virus. These clades are endemic in Thailand, while clade C is the main HIV strain in South Africa; clade B is predominant in the United States and Europe. In the new study, 52% of the participants developed a CD4 T-cell response to the vaccine, compared with 36% of those in the Thai trial.

Both South African and Thai study participants produced antibody responses that crossed viral clades. The antibody responses to clade C antigens, or viral proteins, were higher and more prevalent in the South African participants.

It’s a drug-delivery mechanism for the future: a microneedle patch applied to the skin. The patch’s surface includes hundreds of tiny medication-infused projections that enter the skin and dissolve. They leave behind nanoparticles of antiretrovirals that could work as long-acting treatment or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Researchers from the University of Liverpool in England and Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland have been awarded a grant of about $1.36 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the United Kingdom to develop the technology.

The Liverpool researchers began investigating nanomedicine in 2009 and have since collaborated with other investigators in Africa, Europe and the United States. The research team will rely on high-power computational models to design and anticipate the functioning of the patches.

This will accelerate the design process and provide useful information to guide laboratory experiments and, ultimately, clinical trials.

Marking an important debut effort in what may be a long road toward employing the CRISPR gene-editing method to cure HIV in humans, researchers have found that using the technology to edit immune stem cells proved safe, even if their effort to eradicate the virus failed. A Chinese research team used CRISPR to edit the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) of a 27-year-old man who had HIV and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

HSPCs give rise to the blood cells that make up the immune system. The edit aims to make them resistant to HIV by removing CCR5 receptors the virus uses to enter cells. In 2017, the researchers succeeded in using CRISPR to excise HIV from the immune cells of mice. While the transplant of the edited cells has apparently put the man’s leukemia into remission, it did not cure his HIV. The bright side is that the geneedited cells have persisted in his body for more than 19 months. However, only about 5% of his CD4 cells have the edit that makes them resistant to HIV.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that new diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have maintained their surge, with combined U.S. cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis hitting a record high of 2.5 million in 2018. That year, there were 1.8 million chlamydia diagnoses, a 3% one-year increase. Nearly two thirds of chlamydia cases occurred among people 15 to 24 years old.

Data also suggest that chlamydia disproportionately affects men who have sex with men. Gonorrhea rose 5% since 2017, with 583,000 diagnoses reported in 2018.

This rate has increased by 83% since the historic low seen in 2009. In 2018, there were 115,000 diagnoses of syphilis, 54% of them among men who have sex with men. Experts estimate that half of gay and bisexual men with syphilis have HIV. Since hitting a historic low in 2001, the syphilis diagnosis rate has increased almost every year, with a 15% jump between 2017 and 2018.

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Vaccine Impact

Microneedle Patches

Cracking CRISPR

STIs Keep Rising

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 27

CREDIT

Mykki Blanco’s second full-length album is due out later this year.

28 POZ DECEMBER 2019 poz.com

RAPPER, POET AND ACTIVIST MYKKI BLANCO IS THRIVING WITH HIV.

BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI

Mykki Blanco couldn’t find a place to hide their HIV medications. Having just wrapped a tour, the performance artist turned experimental rapper, who uses they/them pronouns, was hosting an after-party in a hotel suite at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

When Blanco heard friends’ voices from the hallway, they panicked, scurrying to find a safe place to stash the meds. After all, this was not home, where this was standard practice. Here, there were fewer trusted hiding spots.

Blanco fretfully tucked the meds under the mattress, desperate to conceal their status. Later, as partygoers filed out, Blanco slipped into another depressive state.

“I felt so bad about myself, and I said, ‘Enough of this,’” they recall to POZ. poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 29

That night, Blanco took to social media to disclose their HIV-positive status, noting that they’d been diagnosed in 2011 and they were healthy. “Fuck stigma and hiding in the dark, this is my real life,” Blanco wrote on Facebook in 2015, adding at the time, “I’ve toured the world three times, but I’ve been living in the dark. It’s time to actually be as punk as I say I am.”

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Still, when Blanco began to receive despondent direct messages via social media from fans living with HIV, they began offering “love and light.” Blanco responds to the DMs by sharing that accepting an HIV-positive status is a personal journey that can be aided by local support networks. Blanco reminds those seeking guidance that their harrowing story is proof that a dark path isn’t dark forever.

“I’ve grown,” Blanco often writes back.

“Overall, people have told me, ‘Just seeing you continue to work, continue to achieve things, continue to not stop’—I guess…” Blanco stops before backpedaling. “Why am I saying ‘I guess’? I know that’s inspiring. I know I didn’t have a me to look to. I think that, especially if you’re a person of color, yes, it matters.”

IN SEPTEMBER 2019, BLANCO SPOKE OPENLY IN A PUBLIC setting for the first time about the impact of HIV on their art.

The occasion was a master lecture they gave at the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA).

Globally, Blanco had given many lectures at universities on their performance art, but the content of this talk—“far too personal to be posted on social media” and never before addressed in any interview—focused on the traumatic aftermath Blanco experienced after being sexually abused as a child, which they believe led to self-esteem issues in their teens and early 20s.

Telling their deeply personal story in front of HIV activists

PREVIOUS PAGES: (BLANCO) ANDRÉ MIGUEL

BORN MICHAEL QUATTLEBAUM JR. IN ORANGE County, California, and raised in North Carolina, Blanco was already used to living brazenly—sometimes in bras, sometimes in caramel-hued wigs.

Their androgyny was a thrilling, uncharted leap forward for the LGBT community, as hip-hop had never quite experienced a queer, Black, rapping Jew whose knee-high combat boots were firmly pushing into a genre mold steeped in macho posturing. No wonder the Village Voice once called Blanco a “gender ninja.”

But despite their savageness onstage, it would take them four years after the 2011 release of their acclaimed collection of poetry, From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys, to live openly as a person with HIV. Blanco’s mom knew. A few friends knew.

But Blanco, who says “there were no positive examples of anyone doing what I did and continuing to thrive,” still feared that telling anyone beyond the closest of allies would kill their music career.

They couldn’t envision a world where a rapper who happened to be queer, happened to present as femme and happened to be HIV positive could succeed, so Blanco thought they’d step back from producing quick-fire rhymes, maybe become an investigative journalist.

The alternative—becoming America’s “HIV rapper”— seemed daunting and limiting.

“In the very beginning, standing up for HIV awareness and stigma, to me, felt too much like a badge and a weight, where all of a sudden, all of my art, all of my music, all of my work that has so much to do with how I navigate the world would’ve just been labeled through this vehicle of like, ‘Oh, this is the HIV artist,’” Blanco says.

But they kept writing. In 2016, having released three EPs and three mixtapes over the years, Blanco debuted their first full-length album. With Mykki, they were keen on keeping the conversation focused on the music—not sexuality, not race, not HIV. Of other artists, Blanco says, “they’re not called ‘straight musicians,’” citing examples such as Grimes and Solange.

“I’m an artist. To call me anything else takes us back to a place that we need to be far ahead of,” which is “the Jim Crow days.”

Left page: first at USCA, Blanco managed to hold full-length album back tears while revisiting their paincover; this page: ful past—but only because they’d Instagram posts by Mykki Blanco already shed so many in the days leading up to it.

Before the lecture, Blanco rented a quiet Airbnb for just over a week in a “very German neighborhood” in Berlin, where they remained sequestered at a desk every day and wrote—for the first time in their life—an account of the sequence of events that led to compulsive sexual behavior and, Blanco says, “contributed to high-risk behavior and how I contracted HIV.”

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ANDRÉ MIGUEL

Blanco wrote about realizing that at age 6, they’d been sexually abused—an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show featuring sex crime survivors had jogged their memory— and that one Saturday morning after cartoons, they’d told their mother about the abuse.

Blanco also wrote about meeting older men via chat rooms and at cruising areas as a pubescent teenager. Confronting their past in such a focused, detailed and cleansing manner and realizing that soon they’d be sharing that with a room full of strangers, “I broke down sobbing multiple times,” Blanco recalls.

While writing the lecture, they leaned on their mom

and the man who was Blanco’s romantic partner at the time, both of whom helped tremendously. By the time Blanco spoke at USCA, “I was confident in a way that I was able to deliver and really, I feel, eloquently talk about very touchy things.”

After three years together, Blanco and their partner broke up. But Blanco says they were left with an enlightened state of mind, having learned self-love and self-respect because “the way in which he loved me enabled me to realize that I should treat myself better.”

THESE DAYS, BLANCO ISN’T HIDING FROM WHAT THEY were afraid of becoming, which was an “HIV poster child.” On social media, Blanco posted a photo of their HIV meds to let their followers know “this is what I take every day, this is what keeps me untransmittable.” (Blanco is referring to the fact that having undetectable HIV means that you cannot transmit the virus sexually, a fact commonly known as U=U.) By communicating about their day-to-day life, Blanco has realized the impact that sharing their story can have on people in the throes of a similar struggle—especially considering that “for so many people, I am actually the only person they know with HIV.” In 2017, Blanco was one of five people featured in Epic Voices, an online series created by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, an opportunity Blanco cherished. The videos spotlight “influential members of the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS community” who share their stories as people living with HIV to “reenergize the response to HIV among millennial and LGBT communities.”

“I’ve realized these past few years the power that I can have,” Blanco says, attributing their newfound comfort as an HIV activist to a spiritual evolution and a new commitment to a sobriety program. Blanco writes about HIV, thinks about HIV and talks about HIV. It’s all been very cathartic.

In fact, Blanco even acknowledged that interviews such as this one help them come to terms with unprocessed aspects of contracting HIV because “you get into a habit and you take your medication every day; it’s like, How much am I really thinking about being HIV positive every day?

“I’m being forced to articulate things that have always remained so tied to my subconscious,” Blanco adds. “It just feels like a triumph to be able to be Mykki Blanco grows this transparent.” into a new chapter In that spirit, Blanco of their journey living with HIV. disclosed in November

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 33

IF YOU’VE HEARD VAPING IS SAFE, YOU’VE HEARD WRONG. Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are the most commonly used tobacco products among kids—and it’s becoming an epidemic.

ALMOST 40% OF KIDS HAVE VAPED AT LEAST ONCE.

Talk to your kids about e-cigarettes while they’re still willing to listen.

Learn how to have The Vape Talk by downloading the American Lung Association’s Conversation Guide at TheVapeTalk.org

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2019 on Instagram that they started transgender hormone therapy. “I’m not gay,” Blanco wrote, “I’m trans.”

Images from the “Loner” (left) and “High School Never Ends” music videos

WHEN POZ SPOKE with Blanco in October, they had just arrived in Lisbon and were back to their “healthy Portuguese life” after working in London for two weeks.

Blanco admits they were never one of those kids who always aspired to be a performer. It wasn’t even until Blanco was 25 that they became a songwriter, releasing their first EP, Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels, in 2012.

“The idea that I was going to be a musician creating albums, that was just not my pedigree,” Blanco says. Aware that they’re “not the most famous,” they say, “I was not someone who thought I was going to be famous” at all.

Interested primarily in being a public intellectual in their youth, Blanco emerged at a time when being a visibly queer artist was “not cool.”

Blanco came to the fore through the fringes of the underground performance-art world, thanks to booking opening spots on tours for artists such as Icelandic singer Björk, Jamaican-American electronic dance music trio Major Lazer, and the U.S. band Death Grips. Collaborations with Kanye West and British singer-songwriter FKA twigs followed.

Then came Madonna. For the legend’s religious-themed “Dark Ballet” music video, released in 2019, Blanco appeared as Joan of Arc, the heroine who was persecuted and burned at the stake. Blanco’s role was a modern-day take on fearlessness in the face of condemnation for being who you are.

“She feared nothing,” Madonna said of Joan of Arc in a statement around the video’s release. “I admire that.”

The video ends with a quote from Blanco, a rousing declaration of self: “I have walked this earth, Black, Queer and HIV positive, but no transgression against me has been as powerful as the hope I hold within.”

“I’m not going to pretend the Madonna moment wasn’t a big deal to me,” Blanco says, quick not to call the collaboration a breakout moment since they’d already worked with Björk and West.

But working with Madonna “was a big deal,” Blanco says.

“If anything, it was this public validation of: Yes, I have been making good work, I have a fan base that has acknowledged

BOTH IMAGES: YOUTUBE

“IT JUST FEELS LIKE A TRIUMPH TO BE ABLE TO BE THIS TRANSPARENT.”

it, and thank you, Madonna, for lifting me up to allow more people to continue to follow me and the work I continue to do in the future.”

Blanco describes this forthcoming professional era as “the beginning of the ‘celebrification’ of my career.”

THE MANTRA IN THE title of Blanco’s second full-length album, Stay Close to Music, Stay Close to God, due out this year, is the very same one they leaned on when facing recent adversity.

“What has kept me most sane, what has been my rock and my spiritual foundation in the times in my life where I felt unbalanced, ungrounded, unfocused, literally that phrase—‘stay close to music, stay close to God’—was the grounding force in my life continually.”

While Blanco also plans a more dance-oriented, piecemeal mixtape, they see this album, an evolution into “uncharted territory,” as a cohesive body of work that explores the broad spectrum of their multifaceted identity. Blanco’s musicianship is evident in the album’s keen focus on composition, while their individuality shines through in its poetic self-reflection.

Blanco says their followers often don’t understand why they’re not a major star yet, why it’s been such a slow and steady climb. “Sometimes people who are pioneers, it takes them a bit longer to get to the top,” Blanco says.

To illustrate their journey, Blanco recites to POZ the lyrics of a new song called “Carry On” from Stay Close to Music: “Black and gay, I wonder if they’ll ever claim us / HIV, I have HIV, can I still be famous? / Will they wait till I’m dead to give me credit? / These thoughts run through my head / I try and dead them / And just bless God instead.”

Through navigating trauma and “taking responsibility for the times in my life that I fucked up,” Blanco has gone to dark, painful depths. In the process, they’ve found a “spiritual dimension of myself that no psychologist, no psychiatrist could’ve ever helped me discover.”

The top could be just around the corner, but right now, at this very moment, Blanco seems content just knowing that, in music and in life, they are finally being every bit as punk as they set out to be. n

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 35

WE MUST FIGHT THROUGH OUR COLLECTIVE TRAUMA TO BEGIN THE PROCESS OF RENEWAL.

BY MARK S. KING ILLUSTRATIONS BY LIZ DEFRAIN

I

AM WEARY. MY ALL-CONSUMING RAGE IS EXHAUSTing me. I feel sick. It is a twisted knot of dread in my gut, and it wakes me up each morning with apprehension about the latest tweet or the removal of another brick from the wall of our democracy so it can be repurposed somewhere along the southern border.

I never knew there are so many people willing to toss others aside, who would seek out revenge for their own lack of opportunity, who would stretch out their arms and point their finger like a weapon toward the other among us and then pronounce him or her, that wretched person over there, the reason for the ills they face in this world.

I am HIV positive, and I am gay, and I am an ally of the many marginalized people who are touched by this epidemic—and I am deeply, profoundly afraid. poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 37

THE LATEST REVELATIONS BARREL FORWARD at such a dizzying pace that whatever words I am typing now will surely be dated, perhaps quaint, by the time you read this essay.

Chronicling my current outrage feels like burying a time capsule that will be unearthed almost immediately afterward.

You are living in the year 2020. Allow me to share with you, then, what we are facing as I write this in late 2019, as if examining an ancient artifact.

Parents with HIV seeking refuge have been separated from their children. The Supreme Court is ruling on whether employees can be fired for being LGBTQ. Our government continues to dismantle our public health care system. The president has suggested that border patrol agents slow down incoming Mexicans by shooting them in the legs. His personal lawyer is babbling on the nightly news.

It is a legion of horrors. We want to look away, to seek precious solace in the comfort of a loved one or by binge-watching our favorite show, but to be distracted is to miss news of the latest mass shooting or the murder of another transgender woman.

As you read this, you know so much more than I do.

Was he impeached? Will that matter if his policies are intact? I only know, as I sit here writing this, that the trauma this administration has inflicted will remain long after my time and long after yours.

The administration’s stance on immigration alone is terrifying for anyone living with HIV. A proclamation has just been signed that bars legal immigrants unless they prove they have health insurance or the means to pay for it within 30 days of entering the country.

There’s more. The “public charge” rule will reject any potential citizen who might rely upon our system of public assistance. It places a financial value—or deficit—on the lives of people. It reduces us to whether we cost anyone anything.

Many of us rely upon public programs, whether it’s a disability policy, a food bank or help with an insurance co-pay.

Already, immigrants—documented or not—are reportedly withdrawing from public assistance programs out of fear of being deported. That means families are going without food, housing and medications. They watch with terror as immigration authorities raid workplaces and arrest people, hauling them away, leaving their children to come home to empty apartments, if they are lucky enough not to be locked in cages themselves.

Frank’s diary entry of January 13, 1943.

Ah, but we are not living in the early 1940s, defenders will cluck in response. We are not in the midst of a great war, fighting a fascist army as it decimates millions of the most vulnerable.

That’s true. We are not living in 1943. We are living in a circus funhouse mirror version of 1939 on the eve of the unimaginable. Racism is excused and sometimes celebrated.

Legal and political norms have been shredded. Our foreign allies have been insulted, and historic allegiances have been ruined. The lives of those who are not privileged, white, cisgender or heterosexual seem to hold no value.

Consider the classic riddle we have grappled with for decades. If we lived in Germany during the beginning of that unspeakable time, what would we have done? We’ve all played the game, most of us erring on the side of our own virtue.

History tells us otherwise. Far too many people were resigned to be “good Germans,” not willing to stick their necks out as long as the outrage happened a little farther down the social ladder from them. Our current times have asked and answered that question again—and the results are every bit as appalling.

“IS IT OVER YET? HAVE THE COOLER HEADS PREVAILED? HAS THE HEALING BEGUN?”

THE PARALLELS TO A FASCIST STATE ARE UNavoidable. Hitler did not target only Jews and homosexuals.

His regime murdered the sick and disabled first.

“Terrible things are happening outside,” the now-famous online meme reads. “At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes....

Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” This is a direct quote from Anne

38 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

The pressure on my battered psyche continues to mount.

I watch that man on television, sitting beside world leaders with his arms crossed like a petulant child, engaged in his great, baffling obscenities, and I hold my breath for his next assault.

I find myself glued to social media, typing indignant responses to his supporters so angrily that the keys on my laptop are cracked. I shame them and then unfriend them and then block them, knowing all the while I am only spreading animosity like a poisonous gas, and then I worry about what they are saying behind the firewall that has been constructed between us.

Your silent judgment of my trauma makes me flush with embarrassment. I can’t tell from here if you are an ally, if you share this disdain, if you are afraid too or if you exist on the far side of this widening gulf between Americans. If you stand there, across the chasm, then I don’t want a bridge between us, not today. I want to unmoor you and set you adrift, far away from my reasoned worldview, as tormented as it may be.

HAS THE SMOKE CLEARED? HAS ORDER BEEN restored? Is he still alive? Forgive that last question. I’m only human. I think about his health all the time.

I watch his frightening rallies, where he responds to the growing list of crimes laid at his feet by stepping on top of the pile and using it as his soapbox. I see him screaming his litany of grievances and think of the blood pumping strenuously through his arteries. I wonder this, yes, with rueful expectation.

There is sour comfort in musing about his demise, even if it would fi nally shut his mouth, that gaping, colossal abyss that spews and shouts and smirks but never, ever smiles in the way of humans. We should be grateful because the contortion it would require of him to approximate such an absurdly foreign expression might transform his face into a horror so Medusan we may never recover from the sight of it.

I am traumatized by my own hatred of the man, that much is clear, but I am also frightened about what he has ignited in the rest of us. On the night of the 2016 election, I realized I wasn’t safe anymore, that there were far more people who consider me disposable than I ever imagined.

Feeling safe is crucial for those of us living with HIV. Our very diagnosis was a traumatic event. It instantly marked us as supposedly unclean, untrustworthy and unwanted. It has taken hard work over the course of years for many of us to believe, deep down, that none of those negative labels are true.

Countless anti-stigma campaigns have been created to comfort us and educate the ignorant. These campaigns are more than window dressing. Trauma is a leading indicator of HIV transmission risk, and the trauma of HIV stigma can keep someone from seeking treatment and care.

Trauma kills.

As a gay man, HIV stigma triggered the same feelings I had growing up in a Southern town. Being gay was a childhood secret that would have destroyed me if anyone learned of it.

Eventually, I conquered my fears and found self-acceptance.

Until my HIV diagnosis, that is, when those same feelings of shame and secrecy were triggered again.

We live in a constructed reality to survive, where we are loved by those who matter and try our best to ignore the haters. We might even practice a little healthy denial about how safe we actually are. And then something happens to puncture that belief system.

This presidency has ripped away the facade of safety for me and for the communities that make up the HIV arena.

The racism, the xenophobia, the devaluing of lives—it all makes me that frightened young gay boy again, wondering where to turn and whom to trust.

Trauma lingers. It is cumulative.

IS IT OVER YET? HAVE THE COOLER HEADS prevailed? Has the healing begun?

My trauma isn’t indulgent. It is real. And I am not alone.

Therapists across the country report a rushing stream of new clients who are trying to process their anger. Mental health, an issue only acknowledged by our governmental leadership when trying to explain away the latest gun mas-

sacre, is being addressed by HIV service organizations as best as their limited resources will allow.

After the shock of the past few years, my trauma may never really disappear again. Not entirely. It may lie dormant, waiting for some unforeseen trigger to reactivate it. The only defense I have against future trauma is to take positive steps to remove the possibility of triggering it.

And that is where you come in, living as you do in the year 2020, a spot on the calendar that has been circled in red since this indecent period in our history began. I will soon join you in that momentous election year, and I intend to make the most of it.

Voter drives need volunteers. Candidates need support.

For the fi rst time in my life, I am ready and willing to leave my decidedly blue state to help progressive candidates in redder ones. We must fight through our collective trauma to begin the process of renewal.

Do not believe for a moment that your vote doesn’t count.

Those with power will try to convince you otherwise, and people on both sides of our political divide will unnerve us with talk of foreign interference and voter suppression and election rigging.

Stand fi rm. The impeachment proceedings in the House would not have happened were it not for voters who swarmed the polls in 2018 and overturned the balance of power. We did that. We can do it again.

We can restore respect to our nation’s highest office, or at least install someone with humanity, dignity and the ability to reason. And, if the stars align, we might even have the opportunity to reach higher and bring a distant quality back to bear in the White House—nobility.

To consider the meaning of that word makes me weep. I can’t be asking for too much. I refuse to believe it is impossible. Even in the haze of debilitating trauma, I stubbornly believe in hope.

What happens next is up to us. ■

poz.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 POZ 39

HEROES

BY ALICIA GREEN

When Joyce Turner Keller was diagnosed with HIV 18 years ago, she relied heavily on her Christian faith to get her through this new phase of life.

“My spirituality was everything,” says the 70-year-old interdenominational minister and advocate from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who is also the founder of Aspirations Wholistic Tutorial Services. “It was the foundation of my healing.”

Turner Keller describes her diagnosis as an awakening. If it could happen to a praying woman like her, then she thought it could happen to anyone. She knew she had to educate others, so she disclosed her HIV status to family and friends within four hours of being diagnosed.

She shared her HIV diagnosis with fellow church members during a prayer service at her home.

“It wasn’t hard,” she says. “It was like, ‘You have another purpose. Instead of saving souls, now you got to start saving some lives.’ And that’s what I did.”

She became certified in HIV and hepatitis testing and counseling and started testing fellow congregants and people at hair salons and barbershops.

Turner Keller never let others’ fear of HIV or ignorance about the virus affect her. Instead, she turned every negative response to her status into a teachable moment. “I shared with them what compassion does and how it is necessary to put yourself in another person’s shoes,” she explains.

Through Aspirations, Turner Keller has tested thousands of people and connected many to care.

She has traveled to different churches and rural communities to “reach people where they are.”

“To provide HIV testing to every community is one of the most phenomenal things that my being positive has done,” she says.

Turner Keller’s “Straight Talk at the Kitchen Table” conversations address topics such as sex, HIV, gender identity and domestic violence.

“People come into my home, and I cook,” she explains. “We have people from every walk of life, and we talk about any social issues on anybody’s mind.” She has adapted her 10-year-old model and taken it to other communities, drug rehabilitation centers and prisons.

Today, Turner Keller continues to provide testing, condoms and sex education to her community.

She teaches people about the effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the concept of Undetectable Equals Untransmittable (U=U).

She is also working to break the stigma associated with talking about sexual health and condoms among women in the church, which is one of her greatest challenges.

Turner Keller doesn’t believe there should be a limit on how long you can serve your community.

Her goal is to make a difference, be the voice of the voiceless and normalize life with HIV. Her advice to those newly diagnosed: Get into and stay in care, find a good support group and fall in love with yourself.

“HIV is nothing more than a challenge that affords me the opportunity to walk in my purpose,” she says. “I have only begun to lead.”

40 POZ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 poz.com

Joyce Turner Keller fights HIV stigma in the church.

ROMERO & ROMERO

Walking in Purpose

SHOULD HIV PREVENTION MATTER TO ME? I AM LIVING WITH HIV.

I AM HIV NEGATIVE.

YES! PREVENTION MATTERS TO EVERYONE. See how we can all help stop the virus in our bodies and communities.

2020 HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAYS Annual awareness days help educate the general public and specific communities about HIV/AIDS. Since the virus affects people from all walks of life, the number of awareness days has increased over the years. Display this poster as a reminder of upcoming awareness days, and use the hashtags shown to promote them on social media.

FEBRUARY

MARCH 10

7 National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NBHAAD According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 40% of HIV diagnoses in 2017 were among African Americans. NBHAAD promotes HIV prevention and community involvement and aims to increase HIV testing and treatment.

10

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NWGHAAD In 2017, women made up 19% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States. This awareness day recognizes the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls.

20 National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NNHAAD This day honors American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians and is intended to empower these groups to get tested and bring HIV/AIDS awareness to their communities.

MAY 18 HIV Vaccine Awareness Day #HVAD Led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, HVAD showcases the progress in the search for a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. The awareness day is also an opportunity to educate communities about the importance of vaccine research.

19 National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NAPIHAAD Fear of stigma and discrimination can often create barriers to care.

NAPIHAAD was established to help break the silence about HIV/AIDS among Asians and Pacific Islanders and to encourage individuals to get tested and treated.

APRIL

19 National Hepatitis Testing Day #HepTestingDay About 25% of people living with HIV nationwide are also living with hepatitis C, and about 10% are coinfected with hepatitis B. NHTD aims to provide support and resources for those living with viral hepatitis, to increase awareness of the various types of the virus and to encourage testing.

National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day #NYHAAD This awareness day was started in 2013 to engage those under age 25 on the topic of HIV/AIDS. According to the CDC, about 21% of new U.S. HIV diagnoses in 2017 were among 13- to 24-year-olds.

18 National Transgender HIV Testing Day #NTHTD HIV disproportionately affects the transgender population.

NTHTD encourages local testing events and campaigns promoting testing and awareness in the trans community.

communities about the importance of vaccine research.

types of the virus and to encourage testing.

to get tested and treated.

JUNE 5 HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day #HLTSAD This awareness day honors all long-term survivors of HIV. HLTSAD raises awareness and makes sure long-term survivors continue to be included in the ongoing HIV conversation.

AUGUST 20

30

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

#SHAAD Launched by the Southern AIDS Coalition, SHAAD provides an opportunity to raise awareness in the region as well as for advocates across the nation to address the HIV crisis in the South.

#NFHAAD HIV/AIDS affects people of all faiths across the United States. The goal of NFHAAD is to bring together Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and members of other religions to fight HIV/AIDS.

SEPTEMBER 8 National Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NCAHAAD HIV prevalence in the Caribbean is the second highest globally after Africa.

NCAHAAD brings HIV awareness to communities in and from the region and promotes HIV education and testing.

18

27

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day #NHAAD According to the CDC, people age 50 and older accounted for nearly 17% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States in 2017.

NHAAD encourages HIV testing among older adults and HIV awareness for seniors.

National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NGMHAAD According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men made up 70% of new U.S. HIV diagnoses in 2017.

NGMHAAD promotes HIV testing and encourages those who are positive to engage in treatment in order to improve their health and reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to their partners.

27 National HIV Testing Day #NHTD This annual event is a call to people of all ages to learn the facts about HIV and get tested for the virus.

According to the CDC, one in seven people living with HIV don’t know they have it.

OCTOBER 15 National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day #NLAAD Latinos made up more than one quarter of new HIV diagnoses nationwide in 2017, according to the CDC. NLAAD aims to get more Latinx people to join the fight to end the epidemic.

ALL IMAGES: ISTOCK (MODELS USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY)

DECEMBER 1 World AIDS Day #WAD About 37.9 million people across the globe have HIV, according to UNAIDS. The world comes together on December 1 to show solidarity in the fight against HIV, to provide support for those living with the virus and to remember those lost to it.

3 WORDS EVERYONE SHOU

IT STARTS WITH

KNOWING YOUR STATUS. The only way to know your status is to get tested for HIV.

IF YOUR RESULT IS POSITIVE . . .

IF YOUR RESULT IS NEGATIVE . . .

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed or confused.

But HIV treatments can help people live longer, healthier lives. Talk to a healthcare provider as soon as possible after diagnosis. There’s no cure for HIV, but by starting, sticking to, and staying on daily treatment, HIV can be a manageable disease for many people.

There are things you can do to stay that way. Use condoms, get retested regularly, and talk to a healthcare provider about HIV prevention medicines for PEP (Post-exposure Prophylaxis) and PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis).

PrEP

PEP

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: “Pre” means “before” and “Prophylaxis” means “prevention.” PrEP means taking prescription medicines every day before you are exposed to HIV to help reduce the risk of getting HIV. PrEP is for people who are HIV negative and are at risk of getting HIV through sex.

Post-Exposure “Post” means means taking medicines dail immediately a exposed to HIV days to help re risk of infectio to start taking 72 hours after So go to a doc healthcare cen away.

HIV TREATMENT HELPS PROTECT EVERYONE.

HIV INFORMATION MATTERS

Starting and sticking to HIV treatment can lower the amount of virus in the body to undetectable. According to current research, starting and sticking to treatment every day can help you get to and stay undetectable, which means there’s effectively no risk of spreading HIV through sex. It’s called Treatment as Prevention, or TasP. So, HIV treatment can help protect everyone, positive and negative.

Check out HelpStopTheVirus.com for more about HIV medicines, testing, and the impo

5 Reasons to Stick to HIV Treatment

Testing

HelpStopTh

Ask a healthcare pr ways you can he

GILEAD and the GILEAD Logo are trad their respective owners. © 2019 Gilea

ULD KNOW. Undetectable

e Prophylaxis: “after.” PEP prescription ly, after being IV, for 28 educe the on. You need g it within exposure. ctor or nter right

If you have HIV, the goal is to get your viral load to undetectable. This means there’s so little virus in the blood that a test can’t measure it. There’s no cure, but getting to and staying undetectable can help reduce the risk of passing HIV through sex. How do you get to undetectable? By starting HIV treatment and taking it every day exactly as prescribed.

SHOULD HIV PREVENTION MATTER TO ME? I AM LIVING WITH HIV.

I AM HIV NEGATIVE.

YES!

S, TOO.

e prevention information. And watch videos ortance of sticking to daily treatment.

PREVENTION MATTERS TO EVERYONE. See how we can all help stop the virus in our bodies and communities.

Season

Fight Back With HIV Treatment

heVirus.com

rovider about all the elp prevent HIV.

demarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. All other marks are the property of ad Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UNBC6347 06/19