RiseUpToHIV · Learning Hub

The Learning Hub

This is a place to take a real deep dive into HIV — the science, the history, the policy, the community, and the lived reality. 140+ in-depth articles written from 16 years of lived experience and a decade of advocacy work. Go deep or get answers fast.

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Go Deep The full story on U=U. The history of ACT UP. What HIV & the South really means. Hart Island. The 1996 treatment revolution. These aren't summaries — they're the real thing.
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Wellness & Aging

HIV & Menopause — What Changes, What Doesn't, and What Helps

Menopause happens earlier and hits harder for women living with HIV. Hot flashes vs night sweats, HRT and ART, bone density, cardiovascular risk, and what actually helps.

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For Loved Ones

HIV Caregivers — For the People Who Do the Work

Medication management, appointment coordination, caregiver burnout, HIPAA and shared care planning, respite services, and Florida-specific caregiver supports.

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Access to Care

HIV & Veterans — Care After Service

The VA is one of the largest HIV care systems in America. How VA HIV care works, service connection, HUD-VASH housing, and what veterans have earned.

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Living With HIV

HIV & Money — Financial Planning for the Long Game

SSDI vs SSI math, keeping Medicaid while working, ABLE accounts, life insurance for PLHIV, Ryan White eligibility cliffs, and estate planning that protects the people you love.

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Women & HIV

HIV & Pregnancy Planning — Building a Family Safely

When you're virally suppressed, U=U means you can conceive naturally with almost zero risk. Preconception care, safer conception, mixed-status couples, ART regimens in pregnancy.

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Science & Clinical

HIV Viral Blips — What They Mean, When to Worry, When Not To

You've been undetectable for months. Then a single lab shows a small number. Panic sets in. Most of the time, that's a viral blip — not treatment failure. What it is and what to do next.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Cannabis — What the Evidence Actually Says

Medical marijuana and ART interactions, evidence for appetite, pain, and neuropathy, plus how the Florida medical marijuana card process works for people living with HIV.

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History & Culture

Charlie Sheen's Disclosure and the Lives It Changed

On November 17, 2015, Charlie Sheen went on live television and said he was HIV-positive. What happened next was one of the most significant unplanned public health events in modern HIV history.

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History & Culture

Miss Kitty's Secret and What It Cost Her

Amanda Blake played one of television's most beloved characters for 19 years. She died of AIDS in 1989 — and the world was told it was cancer. Her story is about what happens when stigma is stronger than truth.

♀️
Women & HIV

HIV Symptoms in Women: What to Know, What to Watch For

HIV symptoms in women are often dismissed, misdiagnosed, or mistaken for something else. Here is what to watch for — by stage, by body system, and by what makes women's experience of this virus different.

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Culture & History

The Soundtrack of Survival

How music held a generation together before medicine could — from dance floors as sanctuary to the songs that became memory.

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Florida & Policy

Florida ADAP Crisis: Current Status

HB 697 passed — but premium assistance is still gone, Biktarvy still off formulary, ~4,000 Floridians remain in the gap. What happened and what to do now.

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Florida & Policy

Comparing Marketplace Plans

Not all Marketplace plans cover HIV medications the same way. How to compare formularies, out-of-pocket costs, and find the right plan.

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Know Your Rights

HIV Criminalization in Florida

Laws written in 1986 are still on the books, still being enforced. What the statutes actually say, who's been prosecuted, and how to protect yourself.

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Historical

Hart Island

The AIDS epidemic, the unclaimed dead, and what a number in a ledger cannot hold. New York City's potter's field during the worst years of the crisis.

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Science & Care

U=U Explained

Undetectable equals Untransmittable — what it means, what the science says, and why it matters for people living with HIV and the people they love.

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Science & Care

PrEP: Prevention That Works

How pre-exposure prophylaxis works, who it's for, how to access it in Florida, and what the evidence says about its effectiveness.

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Science & Care

Newly Diagnosed? Start Here

A calm, honest guide for people who just received an HIV diagnosis — what it means, what happens next, and how to find care and support in Florida.

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Science & Care

Ryan White Medical Treatment

What the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program covers, how it works alongside insurance, and why your clinic is your most important contact during the ADAP crisis.

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Florida & Policy

HIV in Rural Florida: The Geography of the Epidemic

The worst HIV outcomes in Florida aren't in Miami. They're in north-central counties and the Panhandle — where care is hours away, stigma runs deep, and the gaps are widest.

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Science & Care

Barriers to HIV Care: Why People Fall Through the Cracks

The medicine works. So why do 1 in 3 people with HIV not reach viral suppression? Stigma, housing, insurance, transportation, distrust — the barriers have names.

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Science & Care

HIV & Young People: What No One Told You

1 in 5 new HIV diagnoses are in people 13–24. Nearly half don't know they have it. Whether you're the young person or the parent — here's what you need to know.

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Science & Care

Aging with HIV: The Epidemic Grew Up

More than half of people with HIV in the US are now 50 or older — on track for 70% by 2030. The medicine kept us alive. The healthcare system still hasn't caught up with what that means.

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Community

The Dandelions: HIV & Perinatal Transmission

Before treatment, 25–30% of babies born to mothers with HIV acquired the virus. Those who survived — now in their 30s and 40s — are known in community as the Dandelions. Today, transmission is below 1%.

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History & Culture

HIV in Pop Culture: The Moments That Changed Everything

Golden Girls. Pedro on The Real World. Philadelphia at the Oscars. Angels in America. Magic Johnson's press conference. The screen, the stage, and the moments that shaped how America understood HIV.

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Science & Care

HIV & Dating Apps: Swipe Right on the Truth

"Are you clean?" Status fields. Disclosure filters. The undetectable conversation. Everything you actually want to know about HIV and dating apps in 2025.

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Science & Care

HIV Myths Busted: The Truth, No Chaser

Mosquitoes. Toilet seats. You can tell by looking. HIV is a death sentence. Busting 40 years of misinformation with actual science — direct, clear, shareable.

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Science & Care

HIV & Sex: The Full Picture

Sex with HIV is not a compromise. Undetectable = Untransmittable. PrEP makes acquisition nearly impossible. Pleasure, risk, disclosure, mixed-status relationships — all of it.

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Science & Care

HIV & Immigration: Fear Is the Barrier

Ryan White care is available regardless of immigration status. ICE cannot enter treatment rooms without a judicial warrant. Florida's SB 1718 and 2025 enforcement are keeping people from care. Know your rights.

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Science & Care

HIV & Faith Communities: From Silence to Solidarity

87% of Black Americans identify as Christian. Faith communities sit at the center of the communities most affected by HIV — as both the source of deepest stigma and the most powerful force for healing.

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Know Your Rights

HIV & Sex Work: Criminalization Drives the Risk

67% of Florida HIV criminalization arrests target sex workers. Black women bear the heaviest burden. Reform legislation deliberately left them out. This page doesn't.

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Science & Care

HIV & Housing: Home Is the Foundation of Care

70% of people with HIV have experienced housing instability. Homelessness delays entering care by 6 months on average. The data are unambiguous: housing is HIV care.

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Science & Care

Medication Assistance Programs

Manufacturer patient assistance programs, copay support, and other pathways to HIV medication access independent of ADAP and insurance.

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Science & Care

HIV Stigma & Disclosure

HIV stigma is increasing — and it is killing people. Internalized stigma, the disclosure decision, your legal rights, and how to find support.

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Science & Care

HIV & Women: The Full Picture

Women account for 19% of new HIV diagnoses and are among the most underserved. Transmission, PrEP access, pregnancy, racial disparities, and advocacy.

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Science & Care

HIV & Black Communities

Black Americans are 12% of the US population and 38% of new HIV diagnoses. The structural forces driving this disparity — and the communities leading the response.

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Science & Care

HIV & Latino/Hispanic Communities

The statistics, structural barriers, machismo and stigma, immigration and fear, the PrEP gap, and Florida's urgent reality. Community-centered, bilingual-aware.

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Science & Care

HIV & LGBTQ+ Communities

Gay and bisexual men, transgender women, queer youth, bisexual people, and the structural forces shaping the epidemic. Florida-focused, community-centered.

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Science & Care

HIV & Transgender Women

Trans women face some of the highest HIV rates of any group in the US. Gender-affirming care as HIV prevention, Florida's legislative assault, and organizations fighting back.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Mental Health

Depression, anxiety, PTSD, HAND, and the adherence connection. A comprehensive, honest guide to mental health and HIV — and finding affirming care in Florida.

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Science & Care

HIV, Relationships & Dating

Sex, dating, disclosure, serodifferent couples, U=U in practice, and reclaiming intimacy after an HIV diagnosis. An honest community-centered guide.

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Science & Care

HIV & Substance Use

Injection drug use, harm reduction, syringe services, naloxone, medication-assisted treatment, alcohol and HIV, the SAVA syndemic, and Florida's landscape. Judgment-free.

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Science & Care

Chemsex, HIV & Community Health

An honest, community-centered conversation about chemsex, substance use, HIV prevention, harm reduction, and support resources for LGBTQ people.

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Science & Care

Long-Term Survivors: Living Through It

Survivor guilt, accelerated aging, AIDS Survivor Syndrome, grief, resilience, and the community of people who have been living with HIV for decades.

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History & Culture

HIV, Art & Culture

How HIV shaped music, visual art, theater, film, and literature — the Names Quilt, Angels in America, Philadelphia, Rent, Keith Haring, ACT UP, and the artists we lost.

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Science & Care

Traveling with HIV

Flying with HIV medications, country entry restrictions, managing time zones, customs tips, vaccines, travel insurance, and everything you need to travel confidently.

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Know Your Rights

HIV Criminalization in America

Thirty-two states still criminalize people living with HIV under laws written before U=U. The current national landscape, the science these laws ignore, and where reform is happening — state by state.

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Policy

Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE)

The federal initiative targeting 57 high-burden jurisdictions — including 7 Florida counties. What it is, what it's accomplished, and what's at risk right now.

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Policy

PEPFAR: The Program That Changed the AIDS Epidemic

25 million lives saved. 20 million people on treatment. Now facing the most serious threat in its history. What PEPFAR is and why the HIV community must defend it.

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Know Your Rights

HIV and Military Service: The Fight That Keeps Going

The Fourth Circuit reinstated the enlistment ban in February 2026. Three separate legal fights at different stages. What servicemembers and veterans with HIV need to know.

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Policy

Fast-Track Cities: How Cities Are Leading the HIV Response

300+ cities worldwide have signed the Paris Declaration. Four Florida cities are in the network. What the 95-95-95 commitment means — and how to hold your city accountable.

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Community

Florida HIV Community Guide

The full Florida directory — AIDS Walk detail, Joy Ride history, galas, faith ministries, advocacy groups, sports leagues, training programs, thrift stores, awareness days, and more.

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Policy

ADAP: America's HIV Medication Lifeline Is Breaking

18 states have already cut. What ADAP is, how Ryan White funds it, why it's under pressure everywhere, and what needs to happen — with Kevin's personal statement.

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Coverage

Lost Your Coverage? Here's What To Do

Lost your job, insurance, or Medicaid? Step-by-step, plain language: how to protect your HIV care, keep meds covered, and access ADAP, Ryan White, and patient assistance right now.

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History & Culture

HIV, Shame & Stigma: A History

Where HIV shame comes from, how it was weaponized, and how the community fought back — from the silence of the 1980s to U=U to the No Shame campaign and TikTok.

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History & Culture

Lesbians & the AIDS Crisis

The women who showed up when no one else would — donating blood, staffing hospices, fighting the CDC, and winning the fight to redefine AIDS. Their names belong in every AIDS story.

History & Culture

ACT UP: How Anger Saved Lives

The FDA. The New York Stock Exchange. St. Patrick's Cathedral. The White House lawn. How ACT UP stormed every institution that stood between people with AIDS and survival.

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History & Activism

The Denver Principles: The Document That Changed Everything

In 1983, a dozen men with AIDS stormed a stage in Denver and read a manifesto that reshaped patient rights worldwide. Most were dead within years. Their words outlived them all.

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History & Culture

The Reagan Era & the AIDS Crisis

Six years of silence. 70,000 dead. The press briefing laughs, the C. Everett Koop rebellion, Rock Hudson's visit, and the speech that came too late.

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Treatment

Long-Acting Treatment & the Road to a Cure

From one pill a day to monthly injections to six-month shots — and beyond. Where HIV treatment is headed, what cure research actually shows, and why this decade may be the most important since 1996.

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For Loved Ones

A Message for Someone Whose Loved One Has HIV

Someone you love told you they have HIV. You didn't know what to say. What it means, what it doesn't, what to say, and how to show up — for a partner, parent, sibling, or friend.

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History & Culture

1996: The Year That Changed Everything

The Vancouver conference. Combination therapy. Death rates plummeting 80%. AIDS wards emptying. The year HIV stopped being a death sentence — and what it meant to the people who lived through it.

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History & Culture

The Media & AIDS: From Silence to No Obits

The New York Times buried its first AIDS story on page 20. Randy Shilts covered it alone for years. The Bay Area Reporter ran obituaries every week for 17 years — until the day they finally didn't.

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Art & Culture

Art, Artists & AIDS

Keith Haring. Visual AIDS. The Red Ribbon origin. The NAMES Project Quilt. David Wojnarowicz. Robert Mapplethorpe. Marlon Riggs. How artists bore witness — and changed the world.

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Relationships

HIV & Love Stories

Serodifferent couples, what U=U changed about love and intimacy, real relationship stories, and the science and human side of HIV and love. HIV doesn't determine who you get to love.

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Community & Wellness

HIV & Pets

PAWS organizations, emotional support during the epidemic, and the research on pets and HIV health outcomes. They stayed when the world turned away. Deep Dive #50.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Heart Health

PLHIV have 1.5–2× higher cardiovascular risk. The annual cardiology checkup, blood pressure chart, cholesterol, fitness trackers, alcohol, cannabis interactions, and the lifestyle changes that matter most.

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Health & Wellness

GLP-1 Medications & HIV

Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro — millions are taking them. Safety with ART, drug interactions, the Lancet lipohypertrophy trial, compounded product dangers, and what to ask your HIV provider.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Wellness: The Whole Person

Yoga and the research behind it. Nutrition. Dental health. Sleep. Supplement safety. And how to build a full care team beyond your HIV provider — from surviving to thriving.

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Treatment

Understanding Your HIV Lab Results

Viral load, CD4 count, CD4:CD8 ratio, liver and kidney function, lipids, glucose, Vitamin D, CBC — every number explained in plain language, with a printable reference card for every appointment.

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Treatment & Wellness

HIV & Hepatitis C Coinfection

About 21% of people with HIV also have hepatitis C. Left untreated, it accelerates liver damage. But HCV is curable — even with HIV — in 8 to 12 weeks with a pill. Here's what you need to know.

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Treatment

HIV Medications: A Plain-Language Guide

Every current HIV regimen explained — once-daily pills, two-drug options, long-acting injectables, drug classes, treatment resistance, and what Florida ADAP does and doesn't cover right now.

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Prevention & Care

HIV Testing: Know Your Status

From a 1985 blood test with results that took weeks to a free 20-minute oral swab you can do at home tonight. Test types, window periods, at-home kits, free Florida testing, and what to do if you test positive.

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History & Policy

The Contaminated Blood Supply

Before HIV had a name, it was already in the blood supply. The hemophilia community, the Ray brothers of Arcadia Florida, Ryan White, Arthur Ashe — and the decades-long fight for accountability that followed a preventable catastrophe.

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HIV Awareness Calendar

HIV Awareness Days — Full Calendar

Every HIV awareness day, what it marks, and how to use it. National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Feb 7) · Zero Discrimination Day (Mar 1) · National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Mar 10) · National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (Apr 10) · HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (May 18) · National HIV Testing Day (Jun 27) · National Minority AIDS Awareness Day (Aug 19) · World AIDS Day (Dec 1) · and more.

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History & Activism

Freddie Mercury: A Life, a Voice, and a Diagnosis

He told the world he had AIDS on a Sunday. He was dead by Monday. His voice was one of the greatest in history. His final act was one of the most courageous in the history of the epidemic.

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History & Survival

Magic Johnson: HIV, Survival, and What His Story Taught the World

He announced HIV the same year Freddie Mercury died of it. The world expected him to die. He didn't. His survival — complicated, important, and still unfinished.

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Art & Activism

Keith Haring: Art, AIDS, and Activism

He turned subway walls into protest. He turned his diagnosis into a mission. Keith Haring lived and died with HIV — and left the world changed.

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History & Activism

Elizabeth Taylor: The Woman Who Showed Up

Before it was safe. Before it was fashionable. She co-founded amfAR, testified before Congress, and used every ounce of her fame to fight a disease the world was ignoring.

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History & Advocacy

Elton John: The Rocket Man Who Fought AIDS

Since 1992, he has raised over $600 million for HIV/AIDS through the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He outlived an epidemic that killed his friends — and has never stopped fighting.

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Community & Service

Ganga Stone: One Bicycle, One Meal, One Movement

In 1985, she got on her bicycle and delivered a meal to a man dying of AIDS who couldn't feed himself. That single act of grace became one of the most important AIDS service organizations in history.

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History & Disclosure

Rock Hudson: The Disclosure That Changed Everything

On July 25, 1985, he became the first major celebrity to publicly disclose an AIDS diagnosis. Nothing about the epidemic was ever the same.

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History & Silence

Liberace: Sequins, Silence, and AIDS

The most flamboyantly queer performer in American history died of AIDS on February 4, 1987. His estate denied it. His family denied it. He never disclosed. The cost of that silence was real.

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History & Dignity

Arthur Ashe: Dignity Under Impossible Pressure

He contracted HIV through a blood transfusion. He kept it private for years. Then USA Today forced his hand. His final act — turning a forced disclosure into a platform for grace — became one of the most dignified chapters in the history of the epidemic.

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History & Activism

Peter Staley: From Wall Street to the Front Lines

A closeted Bear Stearns bond trader diagnosed HIV positive in 1985. He took everything Wall Street taught him about power and money and aimed it at the FDA, the NIH, and the pharmaceutical industry. It worked.

History & Activism

Larry Kramer: The Angriest Man Who Ever Saved Your Life

He co-founded GMHC in 1982 and was forced out in 1983. He founded ACT UP in 1987 from pure rage. He was difficult and often wrong about people — and right about everything that mattered.

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Literary Canon

The Writers Who Refused to Disappear

Wojnarowicz, Hemphill, Monette, Assotto Saint, Marlon Riggs, Melvin Dixon. Six writers who made the American AIDS literary canon — full bios, books, poems, and pull quotes linked to primary texts.

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Women & Community

Dázon Dixon Diallo & SisterLove: The Women the Epidemic Forgot

In 1989, Dázon Dixon Diallo was 24 years old and watching Black women get left out of the AIDS response entirely. She founded SisterLove in Atlanta that July. She is still fighting 35 years later.

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Food & Community

God's Love We Deliver: Food Is Medicine

In 1985, a woman named Ganga Stone started delivering meals on her bicycle to a man dying of AIDS. That single act became one of the most important AIDS service organizations in history.

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Prevention & Science

Doxy-PEP & STIs: What You Need to Know

A single doxycycline pill within 72 hours of sex can reduce syphilis risk by 87%. One of the most significant advances in sexual health in years — and most people have never heard of it.

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Science & Care

HIV & Gay and Bisexual Men

Gay and bisexual men account for ~70% of new U.S. HIV diagnoses. The biology, network effects, racial disparities, PrEP, U=U, and the community response.

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Science & Care

HIV & Incarceration

HIV rates in U.S. prisons are 3–5x the general population. The care gaps inside, the re-entry crisis, racial justice, and what needs to change.

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HIV History

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

It began on a kitchen floor in 1987. Today it holds 50,000+ panels and remains the largest piece of community folk art in history — and it's still growing.

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HIV History

The Red Ribbon

Created in 12 minutes in 1991 by Visual AIDS. By the Oscars it was on every lapel in Hollywood. The full story of HIV's most recognizable symbol — including the White House tradition that ended.

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HIV History

World AIDS Day

December 1st. Every year since 1988. The world's first international health day — landmarks go red, names are read, and the epidemic that some would prefer to forget is made impossible to ignore.

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Newly Diagnosed

Your First Year With HIV

Month by month: what to expect medically, emotionally, and practically. The labs, the milestones, the emotional arc, and what most people wish someone had told them.

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Living With HIV

HIV & Work

Employment rights under the ADA, workplace disclosure decisions, health insurance, disability benefits, and returning to work after diagnosis or illness.

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Wellness

HIV, Fatigue & Brain Fog

The most common quality-of-life complaints from PLHIV — and the least talked about clinically. What drives them, what makes them worse, and what actually helps.

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Science & Advocacy

HIV in 2026

Where treatment, prevention, and cure research stand right now. What's changed, what funding threats are real, and why 32,000 new U.S. diagnoses per year is still a crisis.

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Science & Research

HIV Clinical Trials: Plain-Language Guide

Everything you need to know about HIV research trials — how to find them, paid vs. unpaid, how to enroll, what ATIs mean, and your rights. A plain-language decoder for ClinicalTrials.gov.

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Community & Equity

HIV in the American South

52% of all new U.S. HIV diagnoses. 38% of the population. The structural forces, the healthcare deserts, the pharma investments, and the community response — written by someone who lives here.

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Wellness

HIV, Nutrition & Food Insecurity

Food insecurity directly undermines HIV treatment — affecting adherence, viral suppression, and immune recovery. The biology, the programs, and how to ask for help.

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Wellness

Wrap-Around Services

Beyond the pill bottle. Ryan White pays for housing, food, transportation, case management, and legal help — the supports that make treatment actually work. Here's what to ask for and where to start.

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Testing & Hotlines

HIV Testing & Hotlines

Free and low-cost HIV testing, PrEP, treatment, and Ryan White clinics — plus how to find them near you. National finders and Florida-specific tools, all in one place.

Common Questions

80 Common Questions

Plain-language answers to the questions people actually ask about HIV — prevention, testing, treatment, transmission, living with HIV, support, Florida resources, and legal questions. Every answer sourced from CDC, NIH, and HRSA.

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Science & Technology

AI in HIV Healthcare

The CDC, NIH, and this site all use AI. What the tools can actually do, what their real risks are — hallucinations, bias, privacy — and how to use AI-generated health information without getting burned.

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Living With HIV

HIV & the Whole Body — Long-Term System Burden

Even with an undetectable viral load, decades of HIV shape how the heart, kidneys, bones, brain, gut, and immune system age. What the research shows about comorbidities, what to monitor, and how to work with your care team.

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Science & Advocacy

HIV & Organ Donation: The HOPE Act

People with HIV were barred from donating organs for decades. The HOPE Act changed that. 500+ successful transplants later, kidney and liver transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients are now standard care.

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Education & Community

HIV Language Guide: Words Matter

Calling someone "clean" implies people with HIV are dirty. "Confession" frames disclosure as wrongdoing. A plain-language guide to person-first HIV language — what to retire, what to say instead, and why it matters.

Access to Care

Falling Out of HIV Care and Finding Your Way Back

How people fall out of HIV care, what happens after treatment is interrupted, and why returning should be easier than the system makes it. Written from inside the Florida coverage crisis.

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Global HIV

The Global HIV Epidemic: Where We Are in 2025

40.8 million people living with HIV. 1.3 million new infections in 2024. A funding crisis threatening decades of hard-won progress. The state of the global epidemic with current UNAIDS and WHO data.

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Global Policy

UNAIDS and WHO: The Global HIV Response

What these organizations actually do, how the 95-95-95 framework works, and why decisions made in Geneva shape HIV care in Florida and everywhere else.

Global Equity

HIV and the Global South

Two-thirds of all people living with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. The fight for generic drug access, community health workers, the role of PEPFAR, and what the 2025 funding crisis means.

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Global HIV

HIV in Europe and the UK

England has met the 95-95-95 targets six years running. NHS PrEP reaches 111,000 people. Opt-out testing. London's turnaround. And what the US can learn from all of it.

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Florida

HIV in Florida

128,497 people living with HIV. Top 3 nationally every year. The regional breakdown, racial disparities, the immigrant experience, the Latino community, policy failures, and where to find care.

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Community

Immigrants and HIV

Your rights to care regardless of immigration status. Ryan White, public charge, overcoming fear, and how Haitian, Latino, African, and farmworker communities are affected.

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Treatment & Prevention

Telehealth and HIV

110,000+ people get PrEP by telehealth. Free, private, shipped to your door. How telehealth is changing HIV care, the providers offering it, and how to get started.

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Science & Clinical

HIV Symptoms: What People Actually Experience

Most people with HIV feel nothing for years. That silence isn't safety — it's how the virus spreads undetected. A plain-language guide to every stage, the window period, and what to do.

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History & Culture

We Danced Through the Madness: Madonna, Christopher Ciccone & the AIDS Epidemic

Two kids from Michigan moved to New York and watched their entire world die. How Madonna and her brother Christopher lived through the AIDS epidemic — and what she did about it.

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History & Culture

Patient Zero: The Lie That Shaped an Epidemic

His name was Gaëtan Dugas. He didn't bring AIDS to America — HIV was already here a decade before he was diagnosed. The full story of the most dangerous myth in HIV history, and the 2016 science that finally cleared him.

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Community & Equity

HIV & Asian Americans: The Invisible Epidemic

AAPI people have the lowest HIV testing rates of any racial group and face layered stigma that keeps them from care. The model minority myth isn't just wrong — it's lethal.

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Advocacy

Train Up: HIV Advocacy & Leadership Training

Online courses, weekend summits, and Florida-specific programs for people living with HIV who want to lead, advocate, and build power. Your lived experience is already the credential.

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History & Culture

The Ballroom Scene & the AIDS Crisis

How Black and Latino LGBTQ+ communities built the ballroom scene as a sanctuary — and how AIDS devastated and forever shaped that world.

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Global Equity

HIV in Caribbean Communities

The epidemic in Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean diaspora in Florida. Stigma, access, culture, and resources.

⚖️
Florida & Policy

HIV Criminalization in Florida

Florida has one of the most broadly written and actively enforced HIV criminalization frameworks in the country. What the laws actually say, who they've been used against, and how to protect yourself.

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Community & Equity

HIV & the Deaf Community

Language access barriers, Deaf culture and disclosure, Gallaudet's Left Behind exhibition, DeafCAN, and how to find accessible HIV care.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Dental Health

Oral manifestations, disclosure, CD4 and dental risk, Ryan White dental coverage, Florida resources, and medication interactions explained.

Know Your Rights

HIV, Disability & Your Rights

Know your legal rights living with HIV. SSI vs SSDI explained, Medicare vs Medicaid timing, the return-to-work trap, and Florida disability resources.

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Florida Focus

HIV & Emergency Preparedness

Hurricanes, power outages, and natural disasters don't pause HIV care. A plain-language guide to protecting your medications, staying in care, and building a disaster plan that works for you.

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Science & Clinical

HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND)

What it is, why it happens even with an undetectable viral load, how it's diagnosed, and what helps.

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Community & Equity

HIV & People with Intellectual Disabilities

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are sexually active, face higher rates of sexual abuse, and are almost entirely absent from HIV prevention programming. Written for them, their families, and the people who support them.

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Community & Equity

HIV in Indigenous Communities

American Indian and Alaska Native communities face HIV disparities that are undercounted, under-resourced, and rooted in federal policy failures. A deep look at IHS gaps, Two-Spirit identity, and Florida's tribal nations.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Kidney Health

HIV-associated nephropathy, ART-related kidney effects, monitoring kidney function, and protecting your kidneys long-term.

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Access to Care

HIV Navigators — What They Do & How to Find One

HIV peer navigators, linkage-to-care specialists, and case managers explained — what they do, why they matter, and how to find (or become) one. 2026 guide.

Health & Wellness

HIV & Peripheral Neuropathy

Causes, symptoms, the difference between HIV-associated and drug-induced neuropathy, treatment options, and living with chronic nerve pain.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Recovery

Recovery from substance use with HIV — MAT and ART interactions, 12-step complications, HIV-specific recovery programs, adherence in early sobriety, the SAVA syndemic, and Florida resources.

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Access to Care

HIV & Re-Entry: Coming Home

The 30 days after release from incarceration are among the most dangerous for HIV-positive people. A plain-language guide to medications, Medicaid, housing, and rebuilding care after incarceration.

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Health & Wellness

HIV & Sleep

Why PLHIV experience high rates of insomnia, how inflammation and medications affect rest, sleep apnea, fatigue vs sleep, and practical interventions.

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Community & Service

Show Up: How to Volunteer for People Living with HIV

Practical volunteer roles — nationally and in Florida — for anyone who wants to show up for people living with HIV. What you can do, where to go, and why it matters more than ever in 2026.

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