Anyone who has lived as long as I have, especially in Washington, D.C., will know a few people who are HIV Positive. (If you don't, you haven't asked the right questions. And I hope you were safe.) There would be a decent probability that you could have gotten involved, per chance fallen in love, with someone who is HIV Positive.
This got me thinking.
I went online and I did some searching. It doesn't take long ... actually one search on "DC HIV POZ Group" to find a group of Positive people who can come together, talk about their struggles, and just generally enjoy the company of others who know what they are going through. But after a couple of hours of searching, I couldn't find one single group ... not one in the city with the highest HIV rate in the country ... for people who love people who are HIV Positive.
This confounds me.
Yes, I understand how difficult it is for people to realize that they are HIV Positive. I know the things that go through their minds. I know the pain, the anger, the despair, that they go through. I know this because I've had the consolatory discussion with more than my fair share of people I love.
But what about me and people like me, people who love those who are HIV Positive yet don't know how to act around them?
(Don't read too deeply into my last sentence. I'm speaking for the voiceless.)
It honestly does amaze me that, in the HIV Capital of our country, there is not one single support group for those who love or fall in love with someone who is HIV Positive.
Am I the only one who thinks this is ... wrong?
2 comments:
You are absolutely right. If spouses of alcoholics have such a support group then so should partners OR potential partners of HIV positive people.
Observing it from another perspective, however, most people who get involved with people who are positive usually consult their friends prior to such relation. Simply put, people often times just talk to their friends first and consult them about opinions and advice about dating someone who is HIV positive. Most often, they prepare themselves and gain as much knowledge as they could before getting involved.
Then again there's the old "jump in with both feet"...people don't chose who they fall in love with.
I'm beginning to ramble and I'm sure I've already lost ya.
love you.
so lets start one then! ^_^
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