Mark: I am a gay man who moved to Los Angeles when I was 20 years old, in 1981. It was the end of the gay sexual revolution, although we didn't know it at the time, and the dawn of the age of AIDS. I have no idea who might have infected me, and that's just as well. It doesn't matter. There were no medications when I tested HIV positive. As they came along, I took them, always hopeful that I would survive until the next medication was approved. Now, finally, I live in a time when there are more medications to treat my HIV than I will ever need.
Any difficult life event, if you allow it, teaches us compassion and empathy for other people. Nothing can really make the tragedy of AIDS worthwhile, but I am grateful for being involved in decades of activism and the truly heroic people I have met along the way.
Michael: On Nov 26, 2005, I was the victim of a sexual assault. My HIV infection resulted from that action. Afterward, I lost trust in others and in my own ability to make good decisions. I am grateful to have had access to health care coverage and medications. Today, I live fearlessly, but with a new understanding of the good and the bad people are capable of. I found the most amazing man and we were married in 2015. I currently take Descovy and Isentress.
Mark: The most interesting thing to me about PrEP is the fact that is allows people who are HIV negative to take concrete action to protect themselves. For too long, the burden and sole responsibility for containing the spread of HIV has fallen on those of us living with the virus. We have been viewed as little more than vectors of disease and a problem that must be managed. Clearly, with 50,000 new infections each year in the US, this approach has not worked. PrEP changes that.
Michael: PrEP has not changed my relationship with sexuality, but I believe I would not be positive today if PrEP were available to me in 2005.
Mark, 57, undetectable. Long-term survivor living in Baltimore with his husband and two cats, Henry and Charlotte. Writer and LGBT activist.
Michael, 54, undetectable. Working for the federal government.