Hi, I'm 17 and little by little I've been inching my way out of the closet. It's hard because I have a lot of guilt;my religion. And so, this guilt has turned into fear and the fear is HIV. My grandmother says that HIV is to punish gays. She's obviously VERY ignorant, but in some way it's suck with me.

The other day while shopping, I was looking at some clothes on a rack. While holding a shirt I noticed a few spots on it, that looked like blood. I was holding it with my hand that I had cut very severely the day before. If this was HIV infected blood, and because I rubbed my finger that was severely cut on it, would this be an HIV risk? I also touched my friends ear and face a few times and tapped his butt in a playful way. Now I'm worried about them.....

I will donate $40 (all I have at the moment) but promise to send all my other "in the closet" friends to this site for valuable information. Thanks for doing this. I appreciate people like you, whom I look up to.

Love, Scared and alone.

Hey there Closet-Guy,

I'm sure Granny means well, but when it comes to compassion, science or even common sense concerning HIV and being gay, she is obviously suffering from cranio-rectal-inversion. (That means she has her head up her butt.) As for organized religion and the gay issue, they don't even mean well!

Your HIV risk from the possibly blood-spotted shirt is completely nonexistent. HIV doesn't survive very long at all outside the body. Likewise, there is no risk from touching your buddy's face, ear and butt with your day-old cut hand.

As for coming out, it's never easy, but it's always the right thing to do. Do not allow either God or Granny to keep you locked in the closet! Closets are health hazards!

Good luck.

Dr. Bob