Originally Posted by
ragendude
I have been dating TS girls in Los Angeles in San Francisco for more than 15yrs now. Many of them have been "sex workers" especially in the begining. I have many friends, too many friends, that have passed away under the label "complications due to AIDS/HIV infection". Some of them we never knew were infected until they got very sick. With the stigma put on this disease by the government, society in general and especially the ignorant that this is the modern plague and often times people with HIV are treated like lepers, so it is no wonder people with the disease do not reveal the fact that they are infected. If you survived by selling your body for sex and you knew that if you reveal the fact that you have HIV your income would plummet perhaps so much that you would become homeless and an outcast, would you reveal this information?? That is a hard decision to make honestly. We can sit up here on our High Horse of Morals and say "of course I would reveal it" but most of us have no idea what it feels like to be transgendered and maybe even immigrant with no documentation estranged from your family and thinking that prostitution is your only way to survive, I think it becomes a psychological torture within and perhaps these individuals come to the conclusion "Fuck it! It's me or them and I have to survive so I am not gonna worry about it". Maybe that is not right but until something can be done to make services and education more accessible that is how it will continue.
ANd for the people who patronize the "sex workers" one word of advice, many many more girls and guys have this disease than is reported in those statistics, sometimes the person who is infected is the one you would never in a million years suspect, your best freind, your brother or sister, your co worker or boss, your son or daughter, rich,poor, white, black, asian, hispanic, healthy looking people even. Some of the very young (18-23yr old) TS, some of the most gorgeous TS you will see in Los ANgeles, or in the world are infected with HIV (I know they are freinds of mine) so YOU MUST ASSUME THAT EVERYONE HAS HIV and act accordingly with that knowledge if you wish to not become infected yourself . God Bless all of you and take personal responsibility for your action and your life!!