POZ • February 15, 2021 Women’s Empowerment When Shirlene Cooper was diagnosed with AIDS in 1996, she hardly had time to come to terms with her status. Shortly thereafter, her doctors told her she had other pressing health issues.
POZ • January 4, 2021 Black Voices Matter While growing up in Los Angeles County, Raniyah Copeland, MPH, learned about Black liberation and the importance of making the world a better place for Black people. To that end, she vowed to ensure African Americans would live long and healthy lives.
Real Health • January 1, 2021 I Thought Bleeding for Two Weeks Straight Was Normal—It Wasn't In 2013, 35-year-old Stephanie Francis was rushed to the hospital with severe blood loss. After a procedure to stop the bleeding and an ultrasound, she learned she had uterine fibroids, noncancerous growths in the uterus.
POZ • November 16, 2020 Experts Matter Long before Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), garnered global recognition for his response to COVID-19 in the United States, he was well-known as a leader in the fight against AIDS.
POZ • November 2, 2020 Body Positive When Robert Gillum tested HIV positive in 1987, he was incarcerated and facing 30 to 60 years in prison. He was only 21 years old.
POZ • November 2, 2020 For Good Measure Lepena Reid tested HIV positive in 1988, after spending the early ’80s caring for friends and others living with the virus and working with AIDS organizations.
POZ • September 28, 2020 Translatina Proud Cristina Herrera moved to New York City in 1985, during the height of the crack cocaine and AIDS epidemics. At 16 years old, just as she was beginning her journey as a trans woman, she saw some of her peers fight addiction and die of AIDS-related causes.
POZ • September 14, 2020 Aging Positively When the first HIV test became available in 1985, John McLay took it and tested positive. The result didn’t surprise him; he was sure he had been living with the virus for three years.
POZ • August 17, 2020 Community Resilience As a labor lawyer living with HIV in the 1980s, Jesse Milan Jr. used his expertise to help protect and advance the rights of HIV-positive people.
POZ • June 29, 2020 Invaluable Treasure Charles King’s passion for helping the homeless was ignited during his early days as a Baptist minister in San Antonio. But it wasn’t until he joined ACT UP New York in the late-1980s that he connected his fight for the homeless to his fight for people living with HIV.
POZ • May 18, 2020 Centering Our Voices As a professor at California State University San Marcos, Andrew Spieldenner, PhD, begins every semester by telling his students that he is a gay man of color living with HIV. Spieldenner’s confidence to speak his truth dates back to when he first came out to his family as a young adult.
POZ • March 30, 2020 Empowering Youth As a very young HIV tester in her native Lesotho, Africa, Dee Mphafi always encouraged newly diagnosed people to go on treatment. But after her own HIV diagnosis at age 17, Mphafi initially struggled to take her own advice. To make matters worse, when she finally did seek care, she encountered stigma.
POZ • February 24, 2020 Still a Babe Pat Migliore remembers when most HIV support groups in Seattle were exclusively for men. She was never discouraged, though. If anything, it sparked her to find more women living with the virus.
POZ • January 6, 2020 Walking in Purpose When Joyce Turner Keller was diagnosed with HIV 18 years ago, she relied heavily on her Christian faith to get her through this new phase of life.
POZ • January 6, 2020 Positive Response George Ayala is founding executive director of MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, which is based in Oakland, California. MPact is one of the organizers of the HIV2020 conference to be held July 5 to 7 in Mexico City. HIV2020 was organized as an alternative to the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020), which will take place July 6 to 10 in San Francisco and Oakland. The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the sponsor of AIDS 2020.
POZ • November 18, 2019 Global Impact During the early days of the epidemic, when George Ayala was a clinical psychologist working with youth, HIV was a frequent topic of discussion in his conversations with young people.
POZ • November 18, 2019 25 Years of Personal Stories Since 1994, POZ has featured countless people living with HIV in its pages. The subjects in these stories—everyone from everyday people who beat the odds to headline-grabbing advocates who spoke truth to power—have inspired readers throughout the country to take action, be resilient and remain optimistic even in dark times.
POZ • September 30, 2019 Moving Mountains As a gay man, Oscar Lopez thought it was inevitable that he would one day contract HIV. So when he entered the public health field more than 30 years ago, he made it his mission to fight and prevent HIV in his beloved LGBT and Latino communities.
POZ • August 19, 2019 Healing Through Grace Like most people living with HIV, LaTrischa Miles remembers the day she was diagnosed with HIV as if it were a second birthday: December 15, 1995.
POZ • July 1, 2019 Employment Needs When he tested positive in 1989, Mark Misrok didn’t expect to live a full life or have a career.
