Piecing the Puzzle Together

Photo by: Ayrick Broin

Matt Sharp

Activist, educator, long-term HIV survivor
San Francisco, California

I live in the AIDS "bubble" of San Francisco and I work with AIDS educators and activists internationally. My partner is HIV-positive and my family and friends have known for years that I am positive and still, thankfully, healthy. I live in a world of openness and fulfillment because I made a choice to live proudly with HIV. I made that choice so hopefully others could see.

For me, then, it seems unfathomable that people are still so unaware of HIV/AIDS. Yet I know that AIDS ignorance, HIV stigma and hatred towards people who are "different" exists, especially in the right-wing quagmire that is so pervasive in this country. As people with HIV/AIDS, we should harken back to the early days of in-your-face activism and not settle for anything less than full acceptance in this world.