I believe a lot more people could be open about their HIV status, and their only reason for not doing so is fear.


I believe a lot more people could be open about their HIV status, and their only reason for not doing so is fear.

I had to create a video in my own peculiar way — something that demonstrates the sense of humor that has served me well over the course of 30 years living with HIV.

The film is either a transgressive act of eroticism, or an act that demonstrates how to become infected with HIV. Or perhaps both.

These guys must be getting the hang of this, because we discussed and revealed things like never before. From crystal meth addiction to our mothers, nothing was off limits.

I would hear other gay men make disparaging remarks about drag and I withered, unable to admit I was playing to a packed room every Sunday.

You haven’t lived until you have hosted a game show in a cemetery. Or heard behind-the-scenes tales of some juicy grave site mysteries.

Hooray, HIV negative gay men! Let’s show some love for our negative brothers, who’s with me?

“We condemn attempts to label us as ‘victims,’ which implies defeat, and we are only occasionally ‘patients,’ which implies passivity, helplessness, and dependence upon the care of others. We are ‘people with AIDS.’”

Negotiations between myself and POZ Magazine were heated, I will admit. First they claimed Leibovitz was busy and Scavullo was dead, and then they rejected my request for body painting at the studio to sculpt my abs. Oh, and I had to wear a shirt.

In a final act of staking my claim, I asked the damp, drunk and spent star to scribble “All my best, Rock Hudson” on a piece of notebook paper before his hasty exit down the duplex stairs and out to the dingy street below.

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