Real Health • April 1, 2021

ER Visits, Heavy Bleeding, Painful Sex, Surgeries and Fertility Issues

In 2008, Erica Taylor finally sought help for her persistent menstrual cycle issues. She experienced heavy and prolonged periods that lasted between 10 and 15 days as well as sporadic episodes of bleeding every month.

POZ • March 29, 2021

Operation D-REK

At age 16, Derek Canas, of Brunswick, Georgia, stood 4 foot 1 and weighed 55 pounds and was much smaller than his peers. For years, his parents voiced concerns about his size, but doctors never seemed alarmed. It wasn’t until 2001, when a medical student suggested he take an HIV test, that Canas learned that he had AIDS.

POZ • March 29, 2021

Raising HIV Awareness Among Young People

Deondre Moore had no idea that a Thursday night out with friends in Houston in 2014 would end with him testing positive for HIV. At 19 years old, the African-American college student was hanging out at a local hot spot when he noticed the venue was offering HIV testing.

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.