#nlaad

on this last day of latinx heritage month and even more importantly, on this national latinx HIV/AIDS awareness day, i am highlighting a campaign i created with a philadelphia community based organization 10 years ago called “positivo.”

“positivo” launched in october 2013 and featured various different images, north philadelphia residents doing everyday things: hugging a loved one, spending time with a nephew, and cooking for our family. the images were printed in the dimensions of a vinyl album cover and posted in bodegas, pharmacies and on street corners in north philadelphia neighborhoods.

as a person living with HIV, i wanted to be a part of shifting the narrative that conversations around HIV/AIDS have to be rooted in fear. my hope was to provide a visual possibility that conversations around HIV could be rooted in hope and had by all members of the community.

so many people worked on and supported this project and in many ways, it gave me the confidence to create to gran varones a year later.

Tuesday, October 15, marks National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) 2019. This year’s theme is “Living with HIV or not…we’re fighting this together.”

This year’s campaign, according to NLAAD.org, “wants to address that people of either HIV status have a say on ending HIV, in stopping new diagnoses. The campaign wants to break the stigma that only one group bears the responsibility.”

Take the train? Take the test!

In 2015, Latinx accounted for nearly one-third of all new HIV diagnoses in NYC. National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day is a day to increase awareness about how HIV impacts the Latinx community and what we need to do to end the spread of HIV.

This is also a day of action. Over 55 New York Knows community partners, led by the NYC Health Department, will provide free HIV testing and educational resources throughout NYC on Friday, Oct. 13 between noon and 6 p.m.

If you take the train, make sure you take the test! Stop by one of the 35 subway stations across NYC to get your free HIV test.

On Friday, Oct. 13 between noon and 6 p.m., find free HIV testing at subways stations, mobile testing vans and other events throughout the city!

>>Citywide testing locations<<

To help stop HIV in NYC:

Get Tested: Call 311, visit 311 online or text TESTNYC to 877877 to find local testing sites. Outside of NYC? Here’s the AIDS.gov testing locator.

Get Treated: If you are living with HIV, text CARE to 877877 for help finding HIV care or support services in NYC.

Get Educated and Stay Safe: Did you know there are medications available to help prevent HIV? Visit our PrEP and PEP page to get more info.

Find out where you can pick up free NYC Condoms.

To me, National Latinx HIV/AIDS Awareness Day means a day to bring some light to the darkness that has been overshadowing our Latinx community for decades.

A day where you can have some cafecito y chisme in the morning or afternoon with your comai or compai, and with your familia (both blood and chosen) to openly talk about why growing up, HIV was not spoken about and then dish out all the chisme on how to prevent it, how to live with it, and how not to talk shit if fulano or fulana has it, you know, ending el ESTIGMA. We no longer have to hide in the shadow or under the blanket like it was the cucuy. We sometimes see commercials about HIV, medications, and PrEP between our novelas orrr en el YOOTOO (YouTube) between “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” or “Titi Me Pregunto.” Yet it’s still uncomfortable to talk about it with compañeros/as/es. Which is why NLHAAD was created; for people like me to talk openly about living with HIV, to encourage others to get tested, use condoms, get treatment, to get on PrEP, and/or PEP if needed. To show nuestra comunidad that echar bochinche about this day can actually help prevent it between ourselves.

It is also a day to show some love to those who have been en la lucha fighting y echandole ganas. To remember those who we have lost to HIV/AIDS and to embrace those who continue to be with us. A day where we celebrate each other regardless of our own status. A day to remember everyone in our barrios que SI SE PUEDE eliminar el SIDA!

Miliani Varela (She/They), Gran Varones Fellow

Chicago, lL

When you’re living with HIV, finding community can be hard. When you do, sometimes having HIV is the only common factor. When you do come across a group of people who look like you, around your age, had similar familial backgrounds, history, traditions, traumas and triumphs, you finally feel like you have a space where you belong. The Gran Varones Project is that space for me. Belonging to a group of folks with similar diverse identities, intersections, and outlooks is crucial to my survival. Being able to uplift, empower and encourage each other in ways we aren’t able to find outside of our space is what our community does best.

Carlos, He/They (right)

Los Ángeles, CA

Gran Varones Fellow

This year National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day turns 17, the same age as the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and the same age as me when I began my journey through houselessness to Southern abolitionist organizing and building communities with other Poz folks. I recognize that the medications I take to suppress my viral load emerge out of environmentally and physiologically costly mining around the world. Yet, neither viruses nor ICE can recognize the intimacies that make health possible and it is in that lack of recognition that we can forge new healthier assemblages with each other and flourish.

José, He/They

Durham, NC

Gran Varones Fellow

October 15th was National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day. It’s theme—“Living with HIV or not … we’re fighting this together”—exhorts us to promote solidarity, expand access to prevention and treatment, and address the stigma that weighs heavily on HIV in the Latinx community. The theme recognizes the continued social and structural barriers to eradicating HIV in the United States, where racial, ethnic and geographic inequalities remain obstacles to progress.

The Latinx population is disproportionately impacted by HIV. Despite comprising only 18% of the U.S. population, roughly 26% of people diagnosed with HIV in 2017 were Latinx. The disparity is also evident among Latino men who have sex with men (MSM), who comprised 20% of all new HIV diagnoses in 2017. Despite decreases in new HIV cases among most at-risk communities across racial and ethnic groups between 2010 and 2016, HIV diagnoses among Latino MSM rose by 18% overall and by 34% among young (ages 25 to 34) Latino MSM.

How tough can it be to hype up some art, hang up some frames, and celebrate with some comadres from the block? To celebrate National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day, I wanted to bridge together some poz artists and our immigrant community members here in Chicago with an art gallery community event. The goal: highlight the life and works of artists producing thought-provoking works, delivering some HIV-related information in spanish, and having these two happen at the same time.

Cuando les digo that I had a solid reality check. I think back and reflect on how on so many what if’s. Like what if I had a solid budget with big sponsors? Like what if I had a bigger local team behind this project? Like what if I started doing promo way ahead of time? Even though there was room to change the outcomes I’m still super proud of the process and the humble look at Chicago blocks and neighborhoods.

I’m talking humble on the work it takes to put it all together, build traction with families to get them to spark interest, funding the possibility to have food and ship the works of artists outside of the city, and the love I had from day one of this vision. I didn’t get to frame up the work of poz artists but I got to visit and share love for the arts with different people. I didn’t meet my personal goal of turnout numbers but this gave me the challenge to get this info and art combo out to the community I haven’t met yet. With the help of the folks and friends that attended, the first number of pages have already been sketched. Get ready for this zine to drop real soon!

I'm a believer in that with “failures” you can take big wins. I gained a powerful femtors, Lisa Isadora Cruz and Stacy Epps, in this journey and witnessing the need for projects like this. I’m honored to have met such ncredible mujeres that lead so much advocacy after many years and are still pushing to keep necessary changes coming. To have them believe in my vision is so validating and confirms so much of what I felt was missing. The fact that so much gets lost in translation especially with topics like HIV/AIDS. I know that art can be a common language but sometimes abstract and locked away in museums but cultural change is possible when we make health information and art accessible.

J Aces Lira

Him/Him/His

Chicago, IL

The October/November issue of POZ is now available online and features Charles Sanchez on the cover. His HIV journey inspired his hit web series, Merce, and will inspire you too! 

Below is an excerpt from our interview with Charles.

Tell us about your own HIV diagnosis.

I was in New York for 11 years. I was having a hard time making ends meet, and I remember thinking that it didn’t matter how hard I worked or how good I am—I’m just not the kind to get the role. And it was awful. So I left. I went to LA. I could pretend I was pursuing a career, but mostly I pursued sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. I was using crystal meth, and I felt like I had to get out. That was around 2000.