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Powerful U: An HIV Pop Quiz, Episode 1 : What is U=U?

Tina Burner, the school teacher you've always wanted, talks HIV 101. 

Powerful U with Tina Burner is our dragtastic entry in Pride Media’s year-long U=U & U initiative to get the word out about the groundbreaking news that people living with HIV who have undetectable viral loads can no longer transmit HIV. In this episode, Tina talks undetectable 101.

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Prepping for Marriage

It was love at first sight for Thomas Davis and Jace Dawson. As partners, advocates, and speakers, they have held each other through incredible milestones and will affirm their love in front of friends and family later this year when they tie the knot. Now, they’re choosing to share their story to combat HIV stigma and to inspire other couples to share their own stories.

Like thousands of couples around the world (17,000 in Canada alone, according to Liviana Calzavara, leading expert in HIV and professor at the University of Toronto), Davis and Dawson are in a serodiscordant relationship, whereby one person is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative.

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Broadway Actor Hernando Umana Comes Out Gay and HIV-Positive

The actor who's performed in Kinky Boots and School House Rock begins: “::takes deep breath:: This is by far the most important, scary, liberating post of my life. Here we go- 10 years ago, at a young young age of 20, I was diagnosed with HIV. I’ll never forget the moment they told me. It wasn’t possible- I had only slept with 3 people in my life! This can’t be true. The first words out of my mouth were “how long do I have to live?” That’s how uneducated I was about it.”

 

Umana continues: “It had been drilled in my head that gay people get HIV because of wrong doings and they deservingly die from it. Well I’m here to shut that sh*t down. There is NOTHING wrong with me and I am healthier than I’ve ever been. In the last 10 years I’ve met countless of HIV positive men. Some of these men are so affected by the stigma that they don’t tell a soul about their status, even go as far as not taking their medication.”

Umana paid homage to those HIV-activists that made this possible he also urges everyone to educate themselves about U=U and PrEP: “In our extremely privileged community the stigma is more dangerous than the disease. We still have a lot of fighting to do for the people who don’t have the privilege of cost affective medication. So I stand on the shoulders of people like @staleypr who risked his life for us. I stand on the shoulders of the millions of people who had to suffer and die from this disease. I stand on the shoulders of the gay men who were forced out of the closet in such a scary time. These men and woman fought and died to get to where we’re at now- To take a pill at night and never have to worry about dying. To get the disease to a point where it is IMPOSSIBLE to transmit (undetectable). How can I be ashamed of this? I honor their legacy by telling my story.”

“So let’s talk about it. Let’s ask questions. Take your prep. Use condoms. Be SAFE. Let’s end this stigma forever and eventually end HIV forever! To those who have questions- don’t feel dumb asking anything about it. It’s not your fault there’s such a lack of education out there. To those who are afraid to talk about their status- you’ve got at least one guy right here  you are LOVED. You are BEAUTIFUL and there is nothing wrong with you.  I, Hernando Umana, am a proud gay man LIVING with HIV. F**k that feels good to say.”

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Courtney Act Perfectly Breaks Down What Being Undetectable Means

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 alum and Celebrity Big Brother UK winner Courtney Act has a knack for breaking down complex queer topics and issues and making it easily understandable for gays and straights alike.

Earlier this year, she perfectly broke down the difference between doing drag and being transgender for her CBB housemates, and her comments quickly went viral.

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How To Thrive In A Serodiscordant Relationship

It’s sad that even as adults, rumors and preconceptions often keep us from taking risks in our careers and personal lives. For most HIV-positive people, disclosing their status in a new relationship is met with anxiety and panic: Are they going to run away the second they know I’m HIV-positive? Or worse: Are they going to stop loving me?

The truth is it’s not HIV that ruins a perfectly great relationship, but rather the stigma both parties attach to it. In today’s world, people who are poz and on treatment can become undetectable (meaning, they suppress the virus to such low levels that it’s impossible to transmit). On the same note, those who are HIV-negative can practice safer sex with condoms while also practicing PrEP (a daily pill strategy that when taken properly makes it virtually impossible to contract the virus).

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Can You Have a Sex Life After HIV?

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The video series features health experts answering common questions men have around gay men’s health.

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