How To Tell The Person You're Dating That You Have HIV

Dating is hard even without the complications that HIV brings. Activist Marvelyn Brown, who appears in the national Greater Than AIDS campaign, shares her advice on successfully navigating single life. I'm single and HIV positive. How soon do I tell someone I'm interested in? How do I tell them I've been positive for nine years and I've been in the dating world all nine years. In the beginning, I would just send a text because it was just easier to press send than to actually say I was HIV-positive. But now I go by something I would like to call Marv's Method because it works best for me. I find it easier to tell a guy that I am HIV-positive during the first phone conversation that I have with him (just not in a public place). I just come right out and say it without adding sugar or salt for better taste. I choose this method because I have always been the type where my love grows in seconds and I don't want to wait days, weeks, or months to go by without telling him. I feel the more I fall for this guy or the more feelings that I have for him, the more it will hurt if he chooses not to stay. It may be harder than a text, but this new method still manages to protect my heart and feelings. Email your dating questions to Brown at mail@hivplusmag.com, and visit MarvelynBrown.com to find out more about her work.