HIV-Positive Men Kiss Defiantly at the U.S. Mexico Border on World AIDS Day

HIV-positive men gathered on World AIDS day, illustrating defiant queer love by kissing in front of the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana.

According to LGBTQ Nation this event is the Besoton Sidoso Internacional/ International HIV Kiss-In. The event is put on by MPact Global, a queer organization dedicated to creating campaigns that address HIV’s disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men.

To Advocate, addressing the Kiss-In, MPact’s Andrew Spieldenner says, “As one of the only openly HIV-positive executive directors of a global organization, I am inspired and heartened by this highly visible action for the rights of all people living with HIV, especially queer migrants, when there’s so much fear and disinformation out there.”

Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Communications Alex Garner describes this event in a video posted on MPact Global’s Instagram on Monday as “a bold political demonstration of the value of the sexuality of queer people living with HIV and the fundamental human rights of queer migrants.”

A National Institute of Health report from 2018 noted that in high income countries like the U.S., migrants are not only disproportionately affected by HIV, but also often unable to access treatment for it. Additionally, a Williams Institute study from this past February that found that around 288,000 undocumented immigrants in the US identify as LGBTQ+.

The New York Times confirmed last week that the U.S. State Department commanded employees and grantees to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches, or other public-facing messaging.”

This marks the first year since 1988 that the U.S. Government did not commemorate World AIDS day.

This is one of the many consequences of the Trump administration, having also dramatically cut federal HIV prevention funding worldwide. It is estimates that due to this cutting, around 127,073 adults and 13,527 infants have died from HIV/AIDS.