*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* I contracted HIV because I failed to use sexual precautions with my long time monogamous partner, to whom I would have been married if it were legal at that time. I never like answering the question, 'how did you get HIV'. It has been my experience that people want to decide for themselves if you “deserved” it or not based on their judgment of your behavior.    It has been my experience that people like to deny the reality that life can be

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My journey with HIV began in the summer of 2013. I had been back in the United States for less than a year from serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, lost as to what to do with my life.

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“Have you ever thought what you would do if you were positive?” Brad, a volunteer from a local HIV treatment center, waited for my response. He looked anxious, I realized, because he was worried about me. Worried because a second red line had beaded together beneath the first. Worried because the test reacted to antibodies in my blood. Worried because my body was fighting HIV. Worried because I had HIV.

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*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* At the age of 51, I have been HIV-positive for more than half of my life. In the summer of 1990, I received my diagnosis while living in New York City. I was 25 years old. I will never know for certain how I contracted the virus. At the time, I was in a two-year monogamous relationship with an HIV-positive partner and we vigilantly practiced safe sex. My biannual HIV tests were routinely negative until that summer. Of course, I was surprised

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*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* As someone who was born HIV-positive and is currently working in the HIV field as a housing specialist, I have seen and witnessed firsthand the effects stigma has on a person’s health. Stigma is defined as the shame and guilt that are attached to a topic that is considered socially unacceptable. Over the years I have seen many people, both living with HIV or affected by HIV be discriminated against simply because they are either HIV-positive

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*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* Around five o’clock, February 15, 2013, I rushed from school to an appointment with my doctor. I was called in on a short notice and when I arrived, my doctor already left for the day. Oddly enough, the nurse called him on his cell phone and he told me personally that he’ll be on his way back to the office. I never thought too much of it. I was at the doctor for a checkup because I was suffering from giardiasis for the past couple of months.

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*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* There was a woman who was addicted to drugs, and by sharing needles she contracted HIV. I was born in 1998; this woman gave birth to me. My birthday was also the day that her husband would learn of her HIV status. She had neglected to tell him and continued refusing to until the doctors withheld her pain medications and she confessed. The husband, my father, fought for me. He fought to save me from this addict. He fought to save my life. The

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*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.* It was the week after I took an HIV test that I got a call from my doctor to come into her office to discuss the results. Prior to that test, I hadn’t been tested a year and a half. Subconsciously, I had assumed that I was invincible—I was young and healthy and rarely sick. I knew that my sexual encounters had an inherent risk of HIV transmission and while I didn’t always use a condom, I believed that the risk of contracting the virus was too

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