"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Aaron, Visual Artist/Nonprofit Administrator, San Francisco
by thegaymenproject
photo by Kevin Truong

Aaron, in his own words: "What does being gay/queer mean to you?

This question understandably has had an evolution to it. I think when I was younger it was about seeking the freedom of loving and being intimate with anyone your choosing-- not bounded by gender or person. Obviously my preference was other men, but being gay/queer was about seeing beyond that binary. In many ways, that's still very true, however-- I think as we move forward equality in larger strides than in past decades we're challenged to re-examine that notion. To me as I turn to my 30's and we face the blow back to the 2016 elections --we must remember more than ever our truth-- and further more the importance of living more authentically than ever before. That is the spirit of being queer to me. That power is so incredible and so mighty that we have granted ourselves that right and freedom. Let us never let that go.

When I learned about my own HIV+ diagnosis in 2013, that was understandably a trying time. I found that my own generation and (sometimes) community was the most judgmental, and that shocked me. It was often other males in their 20s that were the harshest critics. Responses of stigma to overall apathy or an inability to relate, were common. Often I was met with silence or confusion in those cases, which mostly revealed an uneducated youth who largely believed that HIV is not a huge modern day risk. And to be honest, I suppose I felt the same at one point, so I can't blame them. My diagnosis came right before the popularity and availability of PrEP-- and sometimes I think of that reality and it's painful. Painful to know that I was short an opportunity to avoid the life long health battle that is now in front of me with the reminder that there are no promises in life. Though in that silver lining, there has been the upmost clarity. I can think of a landscape that was once perhaps shrouded in 5 mile visibility-- but now I live seeing this unlimited horizon. I've never known the gift of being able to see clearly in every direction, and as time weather's on i'm realizing what an extraordinary gift that's become. HIV/AIDS gave me that.

I came out in seventh grade, but not exactly by choice. Remember that show on MTV titled Undressed? I loved it. It was the first time beyond porn where I personally had access to seeing two men together on screen-- But unlike porn, there was intimacy and vulnerability. I used to tape various scenes of this show on VHS to re-watch later-- in which my mother eventually found when she mistakenly put on thinking it was last week's episode of American Idol that she taped. wrong.
She called me down from my room to ask me what this was, to which I felt I couldn't lie, so when I told her she simply cried and thanked me for being brave in telling her. I love this story.

(The gay/queer community in San Francisco is) Enchanting, I like to think of it like the novel "Tramps Like Us."

(Advice to my younger self) Don't change a thing."