We Are Black Gay Best Friends—A Diagnosis Brought Us Closer
Timothy Griffin is a social services manager in Houston, TX. Christopher Green is an HIV prevention coordinator in Atlanta, GA.Timothy GriffinI can remember falling asleep in the living room of the apartment Christopher, 32, and I shared in Tallahassee, FL, and being woken up by him standing at the foot of the sofa with a piece of paper in his hands.After he dropped it, he burst into tears and ran onto the balcony.
I had no idea what was happening in my head as I was meandering between being asleep and semi-awake. Are we getting evicted?I opened the paper, and I saw it was an HIV test.
The results read "reactive." I gasped. To know Christopher is to understand that he's not a hypersexual person. He can count his sexual partners on one hand.Me?
Well, we're on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Because I am sexually liberated, people assume I would have acquired HIV, but as of my last test, I am negative.Not surprisingly, stigma and stereotypes aren't a great indicator of reality.
