If you are a gay man, you will understand this; if you are a straight person and do not have a close gay friend (if that is your situation you should re-think your life, gay friends can teach you a lot -just saying) it’s time for you to know this:
Being gay and get tested for HIV sucks.
Since the first reported cases of HIV-AIDS in the 80’s in the US and around the World, anti-gay campaigns and media sensationalism have spread the idea that the infection was only for people with homosexual tendencies, specially men. Misinformation, fear and ignorance filled everyone’s mind.
In the US the estimated incidence of HIV has remained stable overall in recent years, at about 50,000 new HIV infections per year. Luckily now you can live a long life with it. But we are still afraid. I know that gay and bisexual men are the vast majority of the cases, but that is not the point of this post. Today I just want to share my experience.
Going to take the test for the first time was one of the hardest things I have had to do. I could not tell anybody. I had had a sexual encounter with somebody I did not know. Not unprotected, but it had been with a guy, so I was supposed to get tested. I went to a doctor and I told him I wanted to do a blood test to control my cholesterol and, hey, why not a HIV test, too.I could not tell him I was gay, but I did say I had sex with somebody I had just met. I needed his prescription to take it to the clinic. I went and had my blood drawn, that was the easy part. The hard part was to wait, wait and wait. It took six days for the results to be ready, but it felt like a million. Continue reading “Get It Straight: Being Gay + Testing For HIV = Fear”
Juani Manzo 