The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, in collaboration with AIDS United, released a guide on HIV prevention and care, as well as a unique online Q&A feature. This new resource is supported in part by a grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The guide, “A Handbook To Understanding Health and HIV” lays out facts and myths about HIV and AIDS. For some people HIV and AIDS are difficult to understand, especially if you’re a young person who is still coming to terms with your sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Whether you’re a young, Black gay man in the city of Atlanta, or a transgender woman living in rural Mississippi, you deserve access to sexual health information that is accurate and affirming of who you are,” said Brown of the HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization.

The online version of the plain-language handbook offers a “What Do I Do If….” feature that allows users to click on topics ranging from “What do I do if…I don’t know anything about HIV,” to “What Do I Do If…my partner has HIV?” The feature also includes information about what to do if people believe they’ve been discriminated against because they have HIV; how and whether to disclose HIV status; and where to turn for more details on using, with a physician’s guidance, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
 

The four-part handbook provides an overview of HIV and how it’s transmitted; information on testing and the importance of knowing your status; what an HIV test result means and what to expect; and guidance on prioritizing positive, shame-free sexual health.

HRC will distribute the pocket-sized guidebook this summer at LGBT Pride festivals across the country, including in cities where rates of new HIV infection remain alarmingly high. It will also be made available to medical providers, youth-serving professionals, and community-based organizations serving the LGBT community. A Spanish-language edition is forthcoming.