#ACTUP30 MARCH & RALLY - Union Square Park. March 30. 4pm-7pm.

Regular testing and retesting is the only way to know if you have HIV or another STI, including syphilis, gonorrhea, HPV, herpes, and chlamydia. There is no cure for HIV, but it can be treated. Find out more at HelpStopTheVirus.com

Perhaps the people that claim “immigrants are taking their jobs” should go work on those farms.

HelpStopTheVirus.com

on this date in 1981, the new york times printed an article with the headline “rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals.” this headline is historic because it is the first mention of what would become the hiv epidemic. at this time, on this date in 1981, the epidemic didn’t have a name. 

even after 36, it is still chilling to read this headline because it is a sobering reminder of all that the world didn’t know about hiv. what caused it? how to treat it? we didn’t know shit! it took three years to identify HIV. three years to find out that it wasn’t cancer. however, in those three years, stigma, blame, and shame didn’t need a name to thrive. many died not even knowing the name of the disease that robbed them of breath and humanity. 

this headline is historic because it is the first mention of what would become the hiv epidemic. 

36 years later we know so much. we have survived so much. we now have life-saving meds. we now even have PrEP - the pill that helps to prevent hiv infection. this is huge because, in 1981, treatment for any virus was rare, yet alone a virus that was virtually unknown. 

we still have work to do. we still have to shift culture and we still have to fight health care and access. we still have to fight to live. but we know so much more now than we did on july 3, 1981.

Don't tell me how to live my life

Wrong Side of Stairs

“When trans people are under attack, what do we do? STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!”

ACT UP/NY at the Equality March in Washington, DC, June 11, 2017.

Zendaya Continues To Prove She’s Just The Coolest With STI Testing Message

At just 19, actress and activist Zendaya already has more worldly wisdom and a positive outlook that’s usually attained by people twice her age. The star proved this yet again in a video interview seamlessly mixing cute puppies with UN activism (like you do).

Gifs: The Scene

WORD AIDS DAY, 2011

Ron was my very first boyfriend. He was already HIV+ (I was, and am, still HIV-) when we were dating. He was a journalist and gave me a lot of aspiration on who and what I wanted to do as an adult. He passed away about two years after we had stopped dating.

Laith became HIV+ about eight months after we broke up, and though we never reconnected wholly as friends, I was grateful that we at least got to work along side each other some years later, and were able to put some closure on that relationship. He passed away about a year after we reconnected.

Both of these men gave me a lot of formative ideas and hopes in my earlier days. I still carry much of those ideas within me as a result of knowing them back then. And, like so many people who knew them, I wish they were still here.

For Ron. For Laith. I fell in love with you then, and I still love you now. You both will always be a part of my heart. Always.

Holding the Man (2015)