If you’re a gay man (positive or negative) and you have a disclosure experience you think is worth sharing then email it to the AFAO Education Team. "I hate the verbal HIV disclosure routine. A couple of times I’ve deliberately and openly taken my HIV medication in front of trade I’ve had to my place. It’s an easy way to show my HIV status and to demonstrate I’m relaxed about it..." "I was at the pub and we'd been chatting for a couple of hours and getting on really well. I thought 'Here goes...' and told him that I was HIV-positive. He went to the toilet and didn’t come back! It doesn't encourage me to do it again." "Well, it's got a lot better than it used to be. The last two times I disclosed being positive was 'So what difference does that make if we do safe sex?' and 'Thanks for telling me'. It's like gay men have dealt with it more often now. It's also a lot more common to be asked." "He'd been chatting me up persistently for a while and I hadn't really encouraged him. I wasn't going to go home with him. Then he told me he was HIV-positive and it made rejecting him more difficult - it wasn't because he was HIV-positive." "I’d been openly taking my pills in front of this guy I’d been seeing for weeks. I assumed he knew my HIV status. When I said I was off to my HIV-doctor that afternoon it suddenly became apparent that this was not the case. He thought it was not polite to ask what the pills were for... and hadn’t even thought they might be for HIV..." "He wanted to brush his teeth before we went to bed. I told him there was some unused (new) toothbrushes in my bathroom cabinet. He looked a bit tentative when he emerged from his teeth cleaning. I then went to clean mine - and saw in the open bath room cabinet my supplies of HIV pills..." "I keep my HIV-pills in vitamin bottles. It avoids unplanned disclosure." |
