"I was in my mid-20's, 10 feet tall and bullet-proof as they say. I knew that I was taking risks with having unprotected sex, but I thought that I was making as good of decisions as possible by asking lots of questions and choosing 'classy' people. I avoided sex clubs, and anonymous scenes. But, of course, the virus doesn't really care about those things. I'd started seeing a guy consistently and realized that I wanted more than just random sex. As it turns out, he was 'unaware' that he was positive and claimed false-negative tests. I went in for a regularly quarterly test appointment, and got the news that I was in conversion. As I sat there, the nurses each came in and gave a hug, and the doctor talked me through the next steps that we'd be tackling.
It was a pretty major shift from a dating perspective. People were still terrified of the virus back then and education wasn't very widespread. Today, in 2018, it's almost to a place where it's barely even a pause in the conversation. The common acceptance that U=U has taken so much of the anxiety out of dating. I'm always clear with partners and on dating profiles. I've been with Gilead products from the beginning. Atripla, then Complera, and currently Odefsey.
When PrEP started coming out, it really opened up the dating pool more broadly since there was much less fear of being with me as a positive guy."
BJ, 37, undetectable. Manhattan, New York. Working in marketing