Matthew Hodson Profile picture
May 31, 2022 5 tweets 5 min read Read on X
If you have recently been diagnosed with #HIV, please know these things.
Your life is not over.
You can still be healthy.
You can still have children. And grandchildren.
You can still have loving relationships and great, uninhibited sex (these may come hand in hand... or not).
When we are on effective treatment there is absolutely NO RISK of #HIV being passed on to our sex partners - even without condoms or PrEP.
So we can have great, fearless sex.
We call this Undetectable means Untransmittable or #UequalsU.
“Women living with #HIV can have children just like anyone else. You can conceive naturally, you can give birth naturally and you can have HIV-negative babies.”
@sashaishere88 on being a mother.
HIV changed, tell everyone. #UequalsU
If we are diagnosed promptly and have secure access to #HIV treatment we should live about as long as someone who does not have HIV.
Some studies suggest we may even live a little longer!
HIV changed. Tell everyone.
For 35 years @aidsmap has provided information for people living with, or concerned about, #HIV.
Visit our site for news and information about HIV treatment, prevention and support - including #UequalsU.
#NAMat35
aidsmap.com/about-hiv Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Matthew Hodson

Matthew Hodson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Matthew_Hodson

May 16
Section 28 didn’t come out of nowhere.
It came from a society where 75% thought homosexuality was wrong.
From a society that feared the sight of a man in drag would corrupt.
From a society that believed ignorance was better for children than any knowledge of gay lives.
🧵 1/16 Daily Record front page: Gay Sex Lessons for Scot’s Schools.
In 1983, 5 years before Section 28, the Daily Mail stirred up controversy by claiming that children, as young as Primary School age, were being fed gay propaganda.
The Daily Mail was particularly incensed by a book called Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin.
2/16 Jenny lives with Eric and Martin cover.
The book (kid lives with her dad and his boyfriend, they do normal family things, no-one fights) wasn’t freely available.
If the school was liberal, it was given to children whose family’s resembled Jenny’s - a kindness when there was no representation of gay families on TV.
3/16 A page from Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin. It’s all rather dull tbh.
Read 16 tweets
Feb 24
I was blindsided on a radio interview the other day by being asked, “But since the knee operation, your health is great, right?”
I tried to deflect.
I didn’t want to answer.
Here’s my answer (and some news).
🧵 1/14
aidsmap.com/news/feb-2024/…
Me gymming but looking tired.
In April 2022, almost 2 years ago, I began experiencing stabbing pains.
They were intense but intermittent; I was busy at the time so I tried to ignore them. I had a live broadcast that I was scheduled to do for aidsmap and I didn’t want to miss that.
2/14 Me with a mic.
The next day I was persuaded to call the NHS Helpline (111) who sternly instructed me to go directly to Accident and Emergency.
They ran some tests and, when the results came through, put me on a trolley, a drip and nil by mouth for potential surgery.
3/14 Me on a hospital trolley, on a drip.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 18
A 🧵 on #AIDS in the 80s/90s:
I was 15 when I first had sex with a man.
I’d snuck off to London’s Heaven nightclub with the express intent of ridding myself of my ‘gay virginity’, a goal I achieved easily with a visiting American photographer.
1/13
#LGBTplusHM #UnderTheScope A black and white photo of me at 17. I’m leaning over a chair wearing a baggy grey jumper. My hair is awesome.
Later that week, I watched with rising panic the Horizon documentary, Killer in the Village.
It warned of a new disease that was killing gay Americans. A few cases had just been identified in the UK too.
At that time, the disease did not have a name.
We now know it as AIDS.
2/13 A still from Killer in the Village.
The government’s ’Don’t Die of Ignorance’ HIV advertising campaign, featuring icebergs, a tombstone and a doom-laden voiceover, came out a couple of years later when I was in my first year at university.
3/13 AIDS Don’t Die of Ignorance poster.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 10, 2023
Just 30 years ago the Daily Mail was discussing the extermination of homosexuality as a ‘hope’.
#LGBTplusHM Image
Me in 1993.
At the time the age of consent for gay men was 21, we could not marry or serve in the army and Section 28, banning the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, was in force.
Our communities were bludgeoned by homophobia and #AIDS for which then there was no effective treatment. Image
The parallels between the media treatment of gay men (in particular) in the late 80s / 90s and trans people now are obvious and chilling.
I fought for gay rights then.
I stand with trans people now. ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Aug 13, 2022
The first #AIDS case in the UK was reported in December 1981.
Three years later there were just over 100 cases, almost all of them among gay and bisexual men; over 40 of them had died.
At this point there wasn’t even confidence that condoms offered protection.
1/?
It was the 1980s.
Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government was in power.
Homophobia in the UK was deeply entrenched. Many felt that the deaths of queers was of no concern.
It was unclear when, or if, the Government would take action. 2/
In 1987, with a still relatively small but significant number of cases observed among heterosexual people, the UK Government launched its first #AIDS campaign.
Billboards across the country proclaimed the message, ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’. 3/
Read 15 tweets
Aug 12, 2022
Anne Heche was a promising young actress.
She had great reviews behind her and great expectations ahead.
She was Ellen Degeneres’ first girlfriend in the public eye.
Shortly after she starred in a rom-com with Harrison Ford.
‘Could an out lesbian carry a movie?’ the trades asked. ImageImage
It was a lot of expectation to put on one movie and on the shoulders of one person.
The movie was not great. It received tepid reviews and poor ticket sales.
Studio executives (inc. gay ones) pronounced that openly #LGBTQ people could not play leads.
We still see this now. Image
The relationship with Ellen ended, with much tabloid crowing.
Anne Heche’s fragility was exposed - few could go through what she did, and without the cushion of extreme wealth that Ellen enjoyed, and not bear the scars.
When she acted, you could still see her talent, her spark. Image
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(