Viewpoints

The actor and comedian speaks on his work at the AIDSWatch 2019 advocacy event -- and about playing an HIV-positive character.

"Especially in the case of the [white] HIV-positive figures ... in Rent and Angels in America, these queer figures of color serve to remind audiences, 'Well, at least I'm not that,'" Danielle Fuentes Morgan says.

"The film has been dogged by accusations of homophobia," writes Laurie Marhoefer. "But as a gay historian, I keep coming back to something else –- the tragic history that's glaringly absent from this movie."

When Rent opened on Broadway in 1996, it was a radical push against the stigma of living with HIV. But can the upcoming live televised production on Fox go beyond shallow sentimentality?

This refreshing series following an African-American millennial woman living with HIV avoids the sappy or sentimental.

We chatted about all the new developments with principal storyline creators Casey Crawford, Daddyhunt's general manager, and Dan Wohlfeiler, cofounder of Building Healthy Online Communities.

"It's tempting to encourage you to tell your friends that this is a movie about gay sex and New Wave music because that isn't a complete lie," Mark S. King writes. "And besides, the maudlin tag of 'AIDS film' is a disservice to BPM."

"Stories have the power to move us, to illuminate, and to be transformative," Jeff Berry writes. "[The film] Last Men Standing is a story of tremendous hope, and of dreams lost. It's also a story of resilience, and acceptance."

"Instead of opening a national discussion on prevention medicine and the importance of getting into care, the media circus seemed to be more entrenched with the salaciousness of potential wrongdoings and shameful pasts," Arnold writes.

Sheen's story is all about HIV in 2015 -- undetectability, treatment as prevention and PrEP, plus acute and pervasive stigma, fear and threats of criminalization. It's our moment to share these new basics of HIV.