Love in a Time of HIV

This month, Showtime is screening the documentary, “Love in a Time of HIV.”

I haven’t seen the entire project yet, but what I have seen so far does a great job interweaving the political and the personal. I also love that it really focuses on the issues young people wrestle with when they are diagnosed with HIV:

The five episodes explore how young people living with HIV are navigating the transition to adulthood, their sexual and reproductive lives, careers and families and their expectations and hopes for the future. Each episode profiles several young people living with HIV in a different city: New York, Mumbai, London, St. Petersburg and Cape Town.
Through intimate stories Love in a Time of HIV aims to help counter the growing complacency surrounding AIDS by exposing how young people are affected by the epidemic as well as educating viewers on the urgent needs of young people both HIV positive and negative to access sexual and reproductive health information and services.

Projects like these that focus on young people from different parts of the world with such a comprehensive lens need our support. This project’s refreshing account explores the right these young people have not just to a fulfilling life, but to love. This is important in our culture where STIs are still stigmatized and safe spaces are few and far between. If you haven’t yet seen the documentary, you have got to put it on your to-do list.