PrEP & PEP education for ALL!

Earlier this year, SPARK worked with GA Representative Park Cannon and the Georgia Department of Health (DPH) to introduce House Bill 454 – a measure that would require facilities that receive HIV prevention and treatment funding from the DPH to share information about PrEP and PEP with their clients even if they received an HIV-negative test result. Our goal was to increase awareness about PrEP and PEP, two proven and effective methods of preventing HIV infections. We are happy to announce that the bill has been ratified and is currently being implemented at facilities across the state!

Join us in celebrating this achievement and in thanking Rep. Cannon for her dedication and revolutionary service to our communities. We were incredibly encouraged by the bipartisan support the bill received and intend to follow this success with with an appropriation bill calling for more funding for HIV prevention and treatment related activities.

Georgia Black Caucus Hearing

In observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, SPARK and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus will be hosting a public hearing co-sponsored by SisterLove, Inc tomorrow, Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 1:30PM in Room 415 of the Paul Coverdell Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol.

Georgia is one of 32 states that place an undue criminal liability on people living with HIV and SPARK, along with our community partners, has been working as part of a national task force, THE GEORGIA COALITION TO END HIV CRIMINALIZATION, to address the HIV epidemic in the South and help modernize HIV laws.

Join us at the hearing and learn more about how you can lend your voice to the movement.

This is the first in a series of events for our Speak Justice Take Action programing.

Up next is The SOI Advocacy Training And Brunch, taking place on Sunday FEB. 19,

and our education day at the State Capitol, Legislate THIS!, slated for Thursday, FEB. 23.

Help End BAD HIV Laws

1efcfc13-477f-4a39-9c7f-57d22772b2adAre you a resident of Georgia living with HIV?

Did you know that Georgia law punishes folks living with HIV for not disclosing their status to their partners?

Georgians living with HIV can face up to 10 years for lovers’ spats.

Have you been affected?

Would you like to tell your story, and be part of the movement to end HIV criminalization in Georgia?

If so, the Georgia Coalition to End HIV Criminalization would like to invite you to tell your own story, in your own words.

The opportunity to film or record audio will happen at the Phillip Rush Center Annex on January 26th from 5PM – 8PM. (Limited Slots Available)

RSVP here.

Heroes 4 HIV – Do You Belong? We Do!

We can’t escape the daily grind – be it family or career, there’s no shortage of obligations and distractions that keep us too busy from mindfully engaging the world around us and the people we share it with. What are the barriers that keep you from exploring your empathy? What are the ways in which we subconsciously alienate each other? What can you do to make room in your life & your community for others? What can you do to make room for YOU?

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HIV should not be a barrier for interaction and unity among us. Embracing the members of our community that are living with HIV expands our sense of our humanity as a whole and is one small way of saying we all belong – there is room for each and every one of us!

Heroes 4 HIV – Destigmatizing HIV In Our Communities

My name is Spark! I am 25, queer, Black and living in the South… I want to ask you this… How far would you go to keep a secret from the world; a secret that would give the world an excuse to turn its back on you?

On the other hand, how little would you be willing to consciously contribute to improve your community by improving the lives of others?

#Heroes4HIV

#Heroes4HIV

Let those questions linger as I tell you that I am HIV positive – and have been since birth. Not many people know this, except for a few family members. You really wouldn’t know they were my family if you witnessed our interactions – or the lack of them. I am afraid of openly disclosing my HIV status out of  fear that it will influence the rest of my relationships and social encounters in a similar way. I want to share my status, but then I ask myself, what about the shame, unequal treatment, and stigma I might receive? I am afraid of the death of my confidence. Should I share my status?…

I have decided to start a 30-day digital campaign for the month of November. Please help  me by sharing a status, picture, and/or video about how you think HIV stigmatization manifests itself and the effect it has, not only on people living with HIV, but also non-HIV+ individuals in our societies.

This campaign is for and about people living and thriving with HIV! It is about the resources and power we hold, that we sometimes are forced, out of fear, to suppress. It is about US! Together we will fight the battle of de-stigmatization and reclaim our voices, in order to internally and externally shift the way we all think about HIV and people living with it. It’s about US as Heroes4HIV! So, “let’s talk about it!”

Heroes4HIV denotes responsibility unto each and every one of us because we all live in a world that has HIV. Therefore, having been informed by people around us, we can choose to consciously respond to HIV in a manner that brings us together and shifts the way we think.