PrEP: "Truvada, The Other Little Blue Pill"

It's been nearly a year. I haven't posted not for a lack of interesting material, but for a lack of passion to express my experiences until now. This week has been pretty transformative for me in that I have had the opportunity to take new steps to protect myself from an infection which has devastated the lives of many individuals, families, economies, and cultures. HIV is a virus which is relatively new to our awareness, and surrounded by stigma. The topic has come up on this blog before, but the difference is that now there are new options available which we can take to exponentially decrease risk from infection in the event of an exposure.

"What about condoms?" I'm sure some of you are saying/thinking. Well, you're right! But they only work when they're used 100% of the time, and assuming they're used properly, and assuming they don't break. There are a lot of "What if's" when dealing with barrier-method (condoms/receptive-partner condoms, dental dams, etc.). PrEP is a great second-line defense. Or even a first line defense, depending on how you look at it.

For those of you who are a little confused:
(What the hell is this guy talking about??)
Pre (before) Exposure (contact with ____) Prophylaxis (protection)
In other words -it's a pill you can take daily to protect yourself from HIV infection in the event you might have an exposure. It gives your cells the ability to stop HIV from infiltrating it, and forcing it to reproduce. Without the ability to reproduce, it dies. Therefore: no HIV infection. But this is only if you take it consistently. And as we all know -people are great at being inconsistent. In other words (and in the eternal words of Dorothy from the Golden Girls, "CONDOMS, ROSE!"



It's not for everybody, and a prescription is required to start the regimen, but it's nothing short of ground breaking, and while the option has been FDA approved since 2012, it has remained a little-known fact for the vast majority of mainstream society. THIS is why I'm recording my experiences and sharing them with you. I've said it before, I'll continue to say it: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

So: while I'm not a physician, nor licensed to give medical advice, I have been working in the field of HIV outreach, prevention, and treatment for over 10 years. As such -ask any questions you might have -and if it's not a question I'm qualified to answer, I can tell you where to find your answer if it's out there.

I'm not the best at video editing or any of this. And it's nearly 10 minutes long... so bare with me. Please share your thoughts. No hate, though. This is a forum for open, honest, nonjudgmental communication.

Thank you!

-Adam

Oh! And to prevent me from getting sued or any of that business, here's some disclaimers:

*I do not work for a pharmaceutical company.
*I have not received any payment/funding/incentive for expressing my views.
*The views expressed are my own.
*I am not a physician. I do not provide medical advice nor diagnosis.
*The experiences expressed are my own, and may (obviously) fluctuate widely from person to person

This Is Important To Me (and to you too):

My younger brother, a police officer, recently asked me why people dress in drag for pride. He told me he asked a guy in drag who didn't know. It got me thinking about how little we share of our history with our next generations. We might have come a long way in terms of civil liberties and human rights (and still have a long way to go), but without an understanding of what our predecessors endured to achieve these freedoms, which we often (through no fault of our own) take for granted, we cannot ensure that history will not repeat itself.

It's good that people, like my brother, have the courage to ask these important questions instead of jumping to conclusions leading to fear and judgement of what we don't understand. It is equally important for us to share what knowledge we have of these and other events when we're confronted with people who haven't had the privilege of learning.

I know that there are a lot of people out there, especially throughout the month of June (LGBT Pride Month, for those of you who are not aware), who wonder why LGBT people dress up so flamboyantly, hop on floats through towns and cities, and celebrate in ways which might appear to an outsider as completely hedonistic. A lot of people from our own (LGBT) communities, even participants, don't fully understand. I am still learning. The following is a little bit of a "spark notes" version of my understanding of our history, followed by a few links of some important events which influenced the evolution of our struggle toward equal rights. This kind of knowledge is passed down from generation to generation. There are plenty of obstacles to the open communication of this information -even today in the age of communication- so please be patient with me if there are (because there will be) gaps and/or mistakes.

Please click on these links to learn more:


The Stonewall Inn, New York, NY 1969
Important because this marked the popularization of the LGBT movement toward equality and was first major victory against the years of institutionalized/police brutality and murder of innocent LGBT people. It also explains why there exists so much flamboyance in the pride parades we see every year. After years of drag queens and transgender (easy targets for bigots) being rounded up and arrested under ridiculous vice law/crimes against nature, the LGBT people marched proudly up NY's Fifth Ave marking their victory after days of fighting the police on Christopher Street.

The Upstairs Lounge, New Orleans, LA 1973
Not as widely known or publicized. But I'm sure this atrocity will be better recognized after the upcoming release of its documentary. Nevertheless, jump the gun and read about it before all your friends and family go watch the documentary so you can say you were in the know first. WARNING: this is a sad and graphic event laden with violence. Prepare yourself before jumping in.

GRID, or Gay Related Immune Deficiency (later renamed AIDS) hits New York and San Francisco, 1981
We cannot talk about the LGBT movement without mentioning the impact of the HIV epidemic which hit our community hard, and let to even further marginalization of our communities. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a really great timeline of how HIV was first identified and the long and painful struggle to better understand, treat, and prevent this virus.

The Murder of Matthew Shepard, Laramie, WY 1998
By now most Americans know something of the Murder of Matthew Shepard. There are documentaries, books, online articles, etc. detailing the torture and murder the of Mr. Shepard. In 2009, President Obama signed into law, The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expands upon the original 1969 hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by hatred toward a victim's perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Lawrence V. Texas, Supreme Court Decision 2003 effectively striking down sodomy laws nation-wide
This legislation prevents the government from punishing us for having consensual intercourse between two (or potentially more) adults. Basically -this was the case which told the final few conservative (read homophobic) states that they could not arrest or fine LGBT people for being who they are. Especially not in the privacy of their own homes.

United States V. Windsor (and the repeal of DOMA), June 2013
Most recently, (along with the repeal of California's Prop. 8), The Supreme Court decision to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (stating that our federal government would only recognize heterosexual marriage) was unconstitutional because it violates due process. This judgement opens the floodgates for lawsuits in states with similar legislation against marriage equality, and will most likely lead to further protections for our communities.





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