National HIV Prevention Day: Awareness is my superpower

What if the greatest barrier to HIV prevention isn't willingness...but awareness?People say knowledge is power. Well then...Awareness is the superpower!Because you can't advocate for options you don't know exist.That truth didn't just change my life.It gave my life purpose…In 2016, I found myself navigating a serodifferent relationship with a man living with HIV, meaning one partner is living with HIV, while the other is not. His diagnosis never changed how I saw him. To me, he was someone I cared deeply about, someone deserving of love, intimacy, dignity, and the opportunity to experience all of those things without shame.Like so many couples, we were trying to figure it out together. Healthcare providers talked to us about risk, but none of them spoke about or offered options. No one asked me what I knew. No one asked me what I wanted. Not one medical provider I saw at the time said, "Let's talk about every tool available to help you navigate this relationship."So I did what many people do: I moved forward with the information I had. The problem was that the information I had wasn't complete. Looking back, I don't think my biggest barrier was fear. It was the absence of awareness. I wasn't refusing PrEP, nor was I declining prevention. I simply didn't know PrEP existed and that there was and is a difference.That realization has shaped everything I believe about HIV prevention today. Because prevention isn't just about what exists, it's also about awareness of what exists.Three years later, in 2019, I entered another serodifferent relationship. Another city, another man living with HIV, and he shared something with me that no healthcare provider ever had:He told me about PrEP.Not only did he share critical knowledge with me, but he also walked beside me right into a trusted health department so I could learn even more.And wouldn't you know, that moment didn't just introduce me to a medication; it introduced me to an awareness. It introduced me to agency. And it l