Transcript

My name is Daryl.

I’m 24 and I’m HIV negative.

HIV testing is important because not only is your health at stake, but the health of the persons with whom you are sexually active’s health is at stake.

I actually get an HIV test every six months.

I started getting HIV tests when I was 18 because my parents died of HIV/AIDS when I was in the second grade.

My dad went to prison for a crime.

He contracted HIV/AIDS in prison.

When he was released he gave it to my mother.

Knowing your status is the only way to be fair to yourself, to be fair to the persons
with whom you are sexually active and to be fair to your family.

Not only could I not let the rest of my family down, from dying from a disease that certainly I could prevent or at least help prevent, but it was also important to live a life that was exemplary to other kids whose parents may have died, to let them know that it’s something that can be prevented.

As a gay man I think it’s important not to accept HIV/AIDS as an inevitability.

I think that people in my generation sometimes fall into this mindset that it’s going to happen some day.

It doesn’t have to happen to you and there are ways you can prevent it.

When I first heard that I was negative, initially I reacted positively.

I was very happy about my health, but in the same breath it caused me to reflect on the mistakes I’ve made in the past.

I’ve pledged to use a condom every time I have sex, first and foremost.

And I to myself I've no longer accepted “sometimes things just happen.”

I no longer accept that as an excuse to myself, regardless of what other people think.

I’ve also tried to help educate other people while I educate myself on the issue of HIV and AIDS.

Getting tested regularly certainly has helped me to kind of refocus some of my actions in my sexual life and certainly to help other people to encourage them to rethink some things they do as well.

It’s important for people to be tested for HIV because early detection is the best detection.