This Pride Season, ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’ Needs to Be Your Mantra

This post is also available in: Español Português ไทย

Generation Y and Z, it’s your turn to be AIDS activists. It’s great to celebrate Pride, have ridiculous amounts of sex and celebrate your awesome queer family — and that’s exactly what you need to do. But in the midst of the revelry, don’t forget that queer people are still dying of AIDS in the United States — and more will die under President Trump.

There are many reasons why the Undetectable = Untransmittable message isn’t being sung from the rooftops, by HIV service providers or queer media. Stigma, lack of education, cultural bias and the trauma of AIDS allow the risk of today’s HIV-positive folks on meds to go greatly exaggerated. Some organizations have said the meds “greatly reduce risk,” or that risk is “effectively zero.”

It’s zero. HIV-positive folks taking meds are unable to infect others.

In 2008, the Swiss Statement, authored by Dr. Pietro Vernazza and published by the Swiss Federal Commission for Sexual Health, was the first release of data confirming Undetectable = Untransmittable. Although the release was attacked by various agencies, its findings were affirmed by various studies including the PARTNER study, the most widely known to date. All these studies have been attacked with industry bias, politics and myths — but the evidence is real.

Yes, PrEP is a massive breakthrough. A pill that prevents HIV was unthinkable 20 years ago. But the current drug approved for PrEP, Truvada (more drugs are on the way), is a costly medication that many people most at risk of HIV — Black, Brown and undocumented queer people and transgender women without health insurance and low income — are unable to access. For this reason, Undetectable = Untransmittable is the biggest breakthrough since the start of the epidemic. Read more via Hornet