#serodiscordant

[pozmagazine]

ICYMI: #MTVSuga is an amazing fictional video series about real world experiences with HIV.

Recently, the show featured the story of a serodiscordant couple planning a family dinner to disclose their status. Spoiler: It didn’t go well.

[markthomastaylor]

World AIDS day today. Remember those who have passed and be thankful for how far we've come in 30 years! We still have to FIGHT THE STIGMA!! Be healthy, be HAPPY! #worldaidsday #positive #enddiscrimination #endthestigma #hiv #aids #healthyForLife #serodiscordant #discordant #hivnegativepositive

[markthomastaylor]

World AIDS day today. Remember those who have passed and be thankful for how far we've come in 30 years! We still have to FIGHT THE STIGMA!! Be healthy, be HAPPY! #worldaidsday #positive #enddiscrimination #endthestigma #hiv #aids #healthyForLife #serodiscordant #discordant #hivnegativepositive

[pozmagazine]

Gay Mixed-HIV-Status Couple Study Has No Transmissions So Far

In May 2012, researchers from the Opposites Attract study, now based in Australia, Brazil and Thailand, began recruiting serodiscordant gay male couples in which one partner is HIV positive and the other HIV negative.

Two years after the study officially started, some stats:

At the outset, 84% of the HIV-positive men were taking antiretrovirals. Nearly all had an undetectable viral load, making them vastly less likely to pass on the virus.

58% of the couples reported having intercourse without a condom a cumulative 5,905 times, an average of 67 times each.

The HIV-negative partner reported being the insertive partner (the top) for 60% of these occasions and the receptive partner (the bottom) the remaining 40%.

4% of the acts of condomless intercourse were reported to occur when the HIV-positive partner had a detectable viral load.

43% of the couples said they were not monogamous.

[pozmagazine]

In many aspects, Octavia Lewis and Shawn Lopez are like most couples forging a life together. Introduced about four years ago by friends, the pair recently moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, New York, where they’ve already started a family. Marriage is on the horizon.

But in many other aspects, Octavia and Shawn are unique. They are helping raise two very young boys, Ethan and Messiah, who arrived from Children’s Village, which places vulnerable children in homes. What’s more, Octavia and Shawn are a serodiscordant couple—Octavia contracted HIV in 2006 from an unfaithful partner, and Shawn is HIV negative. They’re also both transgender.

Speaking with POZ on a recent cold Sunday evening, the couple talk openly about their past journeys and future hopes. Throughout the conversation, Shawn holds Ethan on his lap, trying to soothe the toddler. The couple plan to adopt the 18-month-old boy, whose biological mother is mentally challenged and whose father is unknown.

Sitting beside Shawn is Octavia, an African-American woman who at 6-foot-1 towers over her fiancé. Originally from Georgia, Octavia has never lost her Southern accent and sense of hospitality. 

As they talk about their lives, it’s clear that, on some levels, the couple represent the all-too-common ways that HIV often intersects the lives of transgender people. At the same time, their story sounds like the only one of its kind you could ever encounter. 

Click here to read more about their amazing love story.

[zippityhayy]

No response. Of course. But why respond to me? I'm not important. At least I feel that way. I miss the intimacy. I miss the passion. I miss the fireworks. I miss not thinking he was afraid of me.

[pozmagazine]

Magnetic Attraction

Love does not discriminate. Nor should it let something like HIV get in its way. Just ask the three serodiscordant (a.k.a. “magnetic”) couples profiled here. In each long-term couple, one partner is living with the virus while the other is not. Despite their individual differences, they all share one thing in common: All of them refuse to allow an HIV status to limit their lives and their relationships. These lovebirds are proof that living with HIV does not have to mean limiting your dating pool to other positive people—or, worse, resigning yourself to celibacy or loneliness. Serodiscordant couples do face a unique set of challenges—many of which are shared in the following profiles—but in the end, as these inspiring duos prove, love conquers the day.

[hivcounsellinglondon-blog]

'My wife is fine, she is negative. I plan on going on and living for a long time.' - Magic Johnson