I was all set to chill out and play some video games, and then a gossip site ran a story suggesting that Kanye West is telling people that Pete Davidson has AIDS. I know, that's a lot to take in. Just focus on the someone using AIDS as an attempt at slander. I'll...
Shawn Decker
Betty White Was, Indeed, A Friend
On New Year's Eve, fans of Betty White mourned the loss of their adopted celebrity grandmother, who was just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. People Magazine released a lush magazine in December, celebrating her birthday early and taking advantage of holiday...
25 Years Ago My Life Changed When I Became a POZ Magazine CoverBoy
Read the issue on POZ.com! We have moments- both grand and grim- that are gamechangers in our bumblefuck journeys through this physical plain. For me, a couple of those moments are wrapped snuggly around "my pet virus", or HIV, as most know it. My HIV diagnosis at age...
50. Ryan White Would Have Turned 50 Years Old Today.
Today would have been Ryan White's 50th birthday. As some of you may know, there are some similarities between his story and my own. However, as time goes by that changes. The biggest difference is no longer in how each of us responded to the earliest days of our...
Goodbye Everybody, I’ve Got to Go: 30 Years Since Freddie Mercury Passed to Spirit
I recently blogged about Magic Johnson's announcement thirty years ago that he had contracted HIV. I was a junior in high school, and by the end of the day I'd heard my first Magic AIDS joke. Shockingly, even though Freddie Mercury passed shortly thereafter, I never...
Thirty Years Since Magic Johnson Disclosed His HIV Status
I was a junior in high school. Coming off a sophomore year that had been defined by some drama where HIV was concerned. I'd really fallen in love, and was experiencing my first dose of sexual activity. I didn't disclose my status, but I thought if we were just having...
Why I Lied To Get a Booster Shot
Last month I went into a Costco and received a booster shot for my Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which I received in March. I travelled about two hours for that first shot in March, because information was trickling in slowly with regard to when the vaccine would be...
Once Silent, Now Paying it Backward for Peter Staley’s NEVER SILENT Memoir
Opening up about HIV at age 20 was the best decision I've ever made in my life. After a decade of keeping my status to myself at all cost, what should have been a tough change came quite naturally. All at once, it suddenly felt harder to not talk about HIV. I...
Pretty Sure I Got COVID This Past Summer…
On July 5th I wrote a blog entry about getting sick. I was careful not to assume it was COVID-19. I even took an at home test that came back negative. Admittedly, I didn't take the second test. You see, the kit comes with two and encourages you take both. Guess I...
Seeing Ads for HIV Meds During the Olympics? That’s a Win for Everyone.
I love the Olympics. Despite a crush on Katarina Witt, I didn't really start watching regularly until I was in my 30s. (I'm 46 for context.) It makes sense, because I've always loved games. Games shaped my childhood, my friends and I would make up all kinds of...