Here are 20 great guys who are reinventing what it means to be HIV-positive in 2014 and beyond.
October 31 2014 4:53 PM EST
May 26 2023 2:47 PM EST
From Greg Louganis to Keith Haring, there have been thousands of impressive gay men who have lived with HIV. In honor National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we celebrated 20 great guys who we think are reinventing what it means to be HIV-positive in 2014. Here's our snapshot introduction — and you can click on each guy to read our full interview with him.
Sam Page
With a celebrity clientele that includes Florence Welch, the woman behind the popular indie band Florence and the Machine, and a Zen-learner-meets-gay-Dr.-Oz philosophy, Sam Page is anything but a typical Hollywood trainer.
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Patrick Ingram
After he attended the Young Black Gay Men’s Leadership Initiative’s 2014 Policy and Advocacy Summit earlier this year, blogger Patrick Ingram says he realized just how much pressure there is to act as if living with HIV is easy.
Andy Bell
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s and ’90s knows the music of Erasure, the chart-topping, award-winning two-man New Wave megaband started by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell nearly 30 years ago. Now they're back with a new album and Bell is still sexy as hell.
Read Andy's full profile here.
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Sean Strub
It’s been been more than 30 years since activist and author Sean Strub was diagnosed with HIV, and every year since that moment he’s been making a major impact in the fight for justice for people with HIV.
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Matthew Zavala
Matthew Zavala works at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital’s HIV Risk Reduction Program helping (in particular, but not exclusively) young gay and bisexual men and transgender youth of color, who are disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS.
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Tom Spanbauer
Ruggedly handsome author Tom Spanbauer has legions of fans. The Idaho native often writes of race, sexual identity, coming of age, and creating family in his many novels including The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon, In the City of Shy Hunters, Now Is the Hour.
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Cyon Flare
Coming out as gay to your mom at 13 is tough for many kids, but not for Cyon Flare. That's because he wore cha-cha heels as a 5-year-old. Now the Billboard chart topping performer is back with a new song and a sunny outlook.
Hussain Turk
He’s gay, HIV-positive, and Muslim, but Hussain Turk he doesn’t think of himself as an underdog. And why should he? He's on top of the world.
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Luna Luis Ortiz
He lost is virginity when he was 14. Soon after, Luna Luis Ortiz discovered he was HIV-positive. Now he's a bigwig in the House of Khan, the ball and vogue culture fixture in New York, and an activist by day.
Cleve Jones
In 1985, Cleve Jones grabbed Harvey Milk’s old bullhorn and instructed the crowd to write down the names of all of their loved ones who had succumbed to AIDS. They went to the old federal building at the United Nations Plaza and taped their poster art to the front of the building. Thus, the Names Project Quilt was born.
Read his full interview here.
Douglas M. Brooks
It was with much fanfare that President Obama appointed Douglas M. Brooks, one of the nation’s foremost HIV and AIDS policy authorities, as the director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy earlier this year. He's the first gay, HIV-positive, African-American to take the office and the timing couldn't be better.
Aaron Matthew Laxton
Using his experience to educate others on life with HIV, Aaron Matthew Laxton has mastered social media to share his life in a way that wasn’t even possible a decade ago.
Read his full interview here or start watching his video series on HIV Plus here.
Tyler Curry
He was 28 when he found out he was HIV-positive. Nothing was more scary to Tyler Curry than figuring out how to disclose his status without being ostracized by others in the gay community. But he's come out in a big way, and has a lot of young fans for it.
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Chris Richey
Chris Richey’s journey with HIV has taken him to some unexpected places — including the White House. That's why The Stigma Project founder is in constant demand.
Greg’ry Revenj
Calling your fashion brand Revenj Jean Federation and giving your collections names like “We Are the Young” and “The Birth of the Federation” sounds lofty, but for Austin-based designer Greg’ry Revenj, it’s not just simple branding.
Read our full interview here.
Ongina
Ongina (or Ryan Ong Palao, as he’s known to his parents) was one of the first reality TV stars to come out as HIV-positive. In his new web series, he's doing even more for people living with HIV.
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Nick Rhoades
If there was a star of this summer’s HIV is Not a Crime conference earlier this year, it was Nick Rhoades, a 36-year-old former hotel administrator from Plainfield, Iowa.
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John D’Amico
This impassioned HIV activist is more than an accomplished leader, he's mayor of the country's gayest city: West Hollywood, Calif.
Read his full interview here.
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John Duran
A fixture on the city council of West Hollywood, John Duran has served as mayor of the city more than once. Now he's a player in the California political landscape.
Read his full interview here.
Larry Forester
HIV complications may have forced Larry Forester into retirement, but that didn't stop him from becoming a civic leader. Since then he's been mayor of Signal Hill, Calif., and a longtime city council member.
Read his full interview here.
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