Doctor Reacts to Pose (HIV, Gender Dysphoria, Body Image & "Passing")

[@garros]

I'm coming up on the 10-year anniversary of my diagnosis. I'm 45 years old so I lived through a real transition from when HIV/AIDS was considered a death sentence to where we are now. I take one tablet a day and have been undetectable since a fortnight after starting medication, for the entire decade. The stigma is still a huge issues, though, but I think it is getting better. However, so many younger gay men are uneducated re: HIV/AIDS - its history, prevention, testing, stigma, etc - which is alarming and will be a challenge in the ongoing fight for eradication of the disease.

[@lunatic5162]

You`re so strong! Keep fighting!

[@ninino86]

Im glad that youre doing well ❤

[@garros]

@@ninino86 Thank you so much. I'm glad I live at a time where I am ABLE to be well. So many people were taken along the way to where we are now, and we owe it to them to do the best we can with what we have now. Not just people living with HIV, but everyone else, who need to GET TESTED and use PrEP if it is appropriate for them and accessible where they live. Most of all, everyone should make a point of spending 15 minutes educating themselves on the current state of the HIV pandemic, and if they're too young to remember, the history of it as well. That's the only way we will give people the confidence and awareness they need to look after themselves and others. The more people are educated, the more HIV stigma and discrimination will be reduced. That is the biggest barrier in the way of the elimination of HIV/AIDS in the Western world. Sorry to go on, but I'm very passionate about it, and you indicated to me that you're a compassionate person who might well pass on this message to those in your community. Happy Pride!

[@wlb2j]

I was 34 when I got my diagnosis. I too am on medication, Biktarvy, and it keeps me healthy. Education and awareness are the enemies of stigma. It will be 7 years I have been HIV positive. At my lowest I had depression and stopped taking my medication. I nearly died from a staph infection that had escalated over a period of two days. I was hospitalized for 10 days. Please know your status and take your medications, they are life saving! However, I'm now healthy both mentally, physically and spiritually. May God Bless ya!

[@garros]

@@wlb2j I'm so glad to hear that you're doing well now. Keep your head held high and take those meds every day! I totally understand when you say you weren't compliant during your period of bad depression. I always remind myself that so many people weren't lucky enough to have the meds we have access to, and that I owe it to them and all the amazing scientists and doctors who made them a reality, even if I might not feel like I deserve them on occasion. Sending love and solidarity from Sydney AU.

[@Falhaes]

Apart from the subject matter, THANK YOU for providing clear and legible subtitles! I am not hearing impaired, but my autism makes it challenging to listen to someone talking even in my native tongue, let alone a foreign one - such as English is for me. Those subtitles are really great and easy to follow, good job!

[@skloak]

I’m really glad the subtitles are helpful for you; I know a girl who does subs for another youtube channel and she’s never sure if they’re helpful or not. I actually find them distracting, tho, that visual flash every time a new line pops up. Would it still be helpful for you if they were still there, just required pushing the CC button to turn them on? KZbin will have automatically generated ones there, but those are almost always trash. But if Elliott’s already taking the time to transcribe everything, it can just be uploaded as a subtitle track that replaces the auto ones, and then it can be turned off or on for everybody. But I don’t know if you’d find that as helpful?

[@toramenor]

I love "Pose", it was a really great show... lots of tears shed, but it's also such a celebration of life

[@keith.morgan]

I only came out in 98. I was very lucky and my family were supportive, I missed all the 80/90 scenes. Watching POSE and Its a Sin, really hit home to me and makes me realise how lucky I've been. Happy pride month to you and everyone Elliott

[@auldthymer]

When the virus emerged in the 80s, despite my negative status, I sometimes had the thought that I was inherently sick. That was a trip. Thankfully, I've outgrown that thinking.

[@anne12876]

One of my very good friends is a GP specialized in HIV treatment. He’s a 60+ yo gay man. He was a young med student when the HIV pandemic hit. We never really talked about these years but I know he lost so many friends and patients to this disease. But I know he keeps going on for those who now have a beautiful life and future. With friends, work, a family, a partner. A life almost like if they would never have been diagnosed. We did giant steps over the years with the HIV treatment options. But each week, he still has new patients (20, 30 yo) diagnosed. The fight isn’t over yet and it’s still a lifelong disease with no cure and with potential complications for your health, and still a huge social stigma.

[@Zyryne1]

It isn't an immediate death sentence anymore. But they still get ignored in hospitals and things like that and that's as unacceptable now as it ever was. 😊❤

[@erisbob]

My mom is a nurse. She worked in an HIV/AIDS hospice around the time of the quilt. I was in primary school & understood, but lacked empathy. Now (I'm 48) rewatching Pose and American Horror Story NY season breaks my heart. I could have said Something more.

[@sadmermaid]

I couldn't finish the last few episodes of AHS, it was heartbreaking

[@kyihsin2917]

I'm a gay man born in the late 1960s, so I'm about the same age as the youngest characters on Pose. Although I spent most of my teens and 20s feeling sorry for myself because I was physically unattractive (the boys at the bars tended to look at me like I was something they'd stepped in), I have to admit it probably saved my life. I'm in my mid-50s now and am still HIV negative. If I had been beautiful at 19, I might not be.

[@jaimeerivera8217]

Thank you for sharing your experience ❤️

[@jthomann71]

When i was first starting out in nursing in the late 90s, well after the most brutal years of the disease, when it was known that it was a pretty difficult disease to catch, the stigma was still there. I had a patient, a 19 year old young gay man, from a rural community adjacent to mine, who was dying of full blown AIDS. His family and friends had disowned him, he lived the last month of his life in my hospital in the only private room on my unit not because he could afford it but because they didn't want anyone else near him for not great reasons. Many of the staff, even having dealt with HIV patients before, still loathed working with him, and he was such a sweet, lonely young man. I picked up extra shifts, and requested him as my patient every day i worked so he could at least have one person who didn't try to get out of his room the minute they entered it. I hoped I'd be there at the end so he wouldn't die alone but he died overnight before my shift started the next morning and it broke my heart. Still makes me cry now writing this thinking of him dying knowing nobody he loved in his life loved him enough to be with him at the end.

[@jaimeerivera8217]

💔💔💔

[@Oltrya]

🏳‍🌈🏳‍⚧ I love my queer elders for fighting so I can feel safer today

[@garros]

Hear, hear!

[@MichaelYoder1961]

As an old gay white guy who was there in the dark days - you're welcome

[@davidadams2395]

We did it because we were left with no option but to die in ignominy. I came out at 17, in the summer of '86, and by Feb. of '87, I had lost two partners & many friends & acquaintances. (I still can't hear _"Don't Dream it's Over"_ without crying.) The fight was difficult but heartening to see people come together united in a common cause.

[@Zyryne1]

We're not done fighting. Not by far. We've come a long way, farther than I ever thought I'd see, but we're not finished. 😊❤

[@1obsessionafteranother794]

It’s A Sin, Pose, and Fellow Travelers have been so important

[@a_lethe_ion]

also i think its EXTREMELY important to make very clean the difference between dysMORPHIA and dysPHORIA because ant trans activists try very hard to muddle the line so they can recommend cbt and other talk therapy and ban gender affirming care as a way to hide their attempts at conversion torture .

[@fledgeking]

🏳️‍⚧️ Trans man here. Being trans is difficult, and it's even more difficult when it feels like society is sliding backward in terms of our basic human rights. Found family is important when your original family wants you dead. Happy June lol

[@null6353]

absolutely. i live in the state with the highest population of religious people, and transition was further criminalized very soon after i became 'legal' for it, it was absolutely devastating; and although i am now 'legal' again, religion and bigotry(debatable difference) is still such a terror that the prospect of going through with it frightens me nearly out of striving to. this is a terrifying humanity to live amongst, but i know that our pain and fighting are not in vain. much love. xoxo

[@rhondajohnson8310]

This was a powerful show! I looved this show!! Thank you for your analysis!

[@hugosavstrom4548]

This is my favorite show ever. All the representation, the acting, every episode making you both laugh and cry, and the music.

[@KRstar78]

I lived through this I was born at the end of the 70’s so by the time I was 5 aids was in full swing they just weren’t calling it that. I had a wonderful tutor when I was in second grade, by the time I was in third grade he died from “pneumonia” later on, I put two into together, and understood that he died from aids. It was such a heartbreaking 💔 experience. I’m so happy that now today we don’t have to go through this anymore. Nobody is dying in two weeks from something that they contracted that they didn’t know how to protect themselves from.

[@scottschroth63]

my dad, who I don't really have a relationship with any more, delivered medical oxygen back in the 80/90's during the Aids Epidemic. He would do oxygen installs for people who would be refused for having the disease as they didn't know at the time how it was spread. The stiga during the time was a complete let down for the entire country, let alone the damage to the LGBT+ community. That is probalby one of the few good thigns he did with his life.

[@Callimachus33]

I think the most poignant, devastating, and painful piece of television about AIDS and the queer community, is the Swedish 2012 miniseries "Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves". If you can withstand it emotionally, it is an incredible piece of drama.

[@sadfaery]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🩷💜💙 Great reminder of why we still need Pride.

[@mandipandi303]

Love these videos! The film "Pride" (2014) is a heartwarming true story that also touches on HIV then. Highly recommend. Andrew Scott and Bill Nighy are in it

[@MeredithBKassnerHypnotherapy]

As a newly out queer person. I absolutely appreciate this. 🏳️‍🌈

[@Zyryne1]

Tge casting for this show was so incredible. And accurate for the time period. Incredible. 😊❤

[@wheelofhands]

💙🤍🩷🤎❤🧡💛💚💙💜 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride, y'all! Take care of yourself and each other.

[@archiecraven6086]

I was born in 1972, and I didn’t come out until the mid-90s, so I didn’t go through losing friends. What I did go through - and I can speak for any gay man of my era when I say this - was terror. It was a terrifying time to be gay. Not only that, the casual cruelty and callousness was just…next level. It came from everywhere - the government, the media, everywhere. Billy Porter wasn’t wrong when he said people wanted us dead. They told us so. My uncle (born 1960) died from AIDS when I was 13 in 1985. Men I know from his generation (there aren’t many) told me to imagine losing 80% of my friend group and having to care for the sick ones because no one else will and have to go to multiple funerals every week. It was literally an apocalypse.

[@getrealnow73]

thank you for this and I greatly appreciate you being welcome to being corrected on any thing that you may get wrong. subscribed

[@elijames8618]

Happy Pride everyone! 🏳️‍🌈 Just wanted to leave a reaction recommendation if thats okay, a brilliant new queer show called ‘Lost Boys and Fairies’ all about queer adoption, growing up under Thatcher and dealing with things like grief and addiction. Would love your take on it if you feel like it! :))

[@pupperhoni]

I really appreciate the commentary and annotations you have with the scenes 💙💙🌈🌈

[@SisterPegasus]

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Thank you for reviewing this amazing show. I watched all 3 seasons and cried so hard. Spoilers ahead, be warned! Pray Tell (the older gay man played by Billy Porter) eventually comes out as positive to everyone, and Ricky (Daemon's boyfriend) though he is negative this far in the series, becomes positive after sleeping with someone other than Daemon. He and Pray Tell end up getting together and after many ups and downs, Pray Tell dies from AIDS and Ricky heartbreakingly finds out that it's because he had been giving him all of his medication while telling Ricky that his doctors gave him spares.

[@Zyryne1]

There was also GRIT or GRITS. Which I don't remember the breakdown for, but it was a thing. Testing now is SO much better! I've literally been tested in a van clinic parked in front of the club. In like 5 minutes. 😊❤

[@darlalathan6143]

I could only watch a few episodes of Pose because I found it too "triggering" for me because of my anxiety and autism and I lost two cousins and several college friends to HIV in the '80s and '90s. Since college, I have used condoms and have a PREP prescription. I'm still negative! For some reason, my family got embarrassed when I said that! However, what I saw and read on TV Tropes Wiki inspired a comic book script about an '80s and '90s transgender superhero. The protagonist was adopted into a ball culture house and lost her cousins and "drag mama" to HIV during the period. I teared up writing the "drag mom's" death scene!

[@megandmauiguidingpaws]

Love love this video I am autistic and part of the LGBTQIA 🏳️‍🌈 and my big special interest is actually our history and our history involving AIDS and HIV so I just loved this happy pride

[@leahb8069]

Thank you for being so informative and compassionate! 🏳️‍🌈

[@jayviescas7703]

Another thing not usually brought up in those of us gay men who were out and sexually active when HIV/AIDS was first rearing it's ugly head was not getting it, having to watch our friends and colleagues becoming ill, experiencing lots of unimaginable pain, ostracization and dying. Those of us who didn't "catch it" then, now in the throes of survivor's guilt. Some other good movies dealing with some of these issues are Long Time Companion, Parting Glances, A Virus Knows No Morals, and Zero Patience.

[@MazzieMay]

🏳️‍🌈 Back alley implants in the breasts and hips/butt would at times be cement! Even ‘good’ results degraded to gnarly quickly

[@hugosavstrom4548]

I live in Sweden and here prep is still hard to get and costs money monthly

[@ZabaTheFrog]

Did you cover it's a sin? The BBC one? Please do!

[@lunacouer]

🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈The Happiest of Pride Months everyone! 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 While I'm a straight female, I just wanna give some experiential history. I was in college when the big public health push started in the early 90s for everyone to get tested, not just gay men and IV drug users - because of course the political will and money only came in when it began spreading in the general population. Bless all the gay activists who fought for their lives and the lives of their community. They stood up to people so evil they were proud of it, and ended up saving the lives of even the people who hated them. 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 Back then, HIV wouldn't show up on tests for at least 6 weeks, so they were emphatic that you needed to come back to double-check if your potential exposure was less than that. I lived in the midwest of the US, and the only place to get tested was the county health department. In that state? That was scary. But not only did they let us get tested anonymously, they *strongly* encouraged it. HIPAA wasn't passed until 1996 and in that intensely homophobic and stigmatized culture, they wanted to make sure that no one knew a patient's status except the patient. They had to contact partners to let them know they were possibly exposed, but they wouldn't reveal the name of the person. Not great, but they still needed to protect people. 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 Their main concern was government or companies potentially gaining access, on top of how this was before the ACA. Health insurance companies wouldn't take you if you had _any_ pre-existing condition. If someone didn't have job-related health insurance, they coached people to lie in order to get on a plan. You still had to navigate a system that might deny your claims based on a positive status, but at bare minimum you needed a system to navigate. 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 They were very tuned-in and protective of the LGBTQIA+ community, surprisingly so considering the state I lived in. There, with how conservative and bigoted the general population was (still is), LGBTQIA+ people remained closeted to keep their jobs and maintain general acceptance in the community. However, for gay men and trans people, it was a matter of life and death. They knew they could be the next Brandon Teena or Matthew Shepard at any point. 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 And still, in that climate, those community healthcare workers made it their mission to protect everyone. However, that umbrella of protection and care was only possible because the gay activists that constructed it made it big enough for the rest of us to stand under. We're all in their debt. 🌈🏳‍🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🌈 Happy Pride Month everyone. I hope every LGBTQIA+ person can feel truly, truly proud of themselves, of who you are, and how much things have changed. The difference I've seen in my 52 years is night and day, and that's just as a bystander. Our entire culture has shifted, so much so that everyone is standing on the shoulders of the giants that lived and died to make June this beautiful celebration. We still have a _long_ way to go - our trans brothers and sisters especially need protection - but I'm so happy to see your light shining so bright now.

[@scriptorpaulina]

🌸🌼🦋 I’d say that I don’t care much about my sex, I want other’s perception of my gender to match what it is. Much like a cis person

[@ouijacorn]

🏳‍🌈🏳‍⚧🌈✨Happy Pride!✨🌈🏳‍⚧🏳‍🌈

[@jayviescas7703]

Have you watched the HBO 2003 miniseries of Angels in America yet? Lots of gay history in regards to mental illness, religion and HIV/AIDS. Such a wonderful ensemble cast with Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker, Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright, Patrick Wilson and Ben Shenkman.

[@Rose_Blue87]

there has been a time where I thought I might be trans but that's because I didn't know the difference between gender and gender expression, no one explained it to me. its sad to think about but think that treatment for AIDS would have been faster and better available if mainly straight white man got it in the beginning.

[@auldthymer]

One of the weirder moments of history in the early 80s, before the virus had been identified, AIDS was said to affect gay men, intravenous drug users and Haitians. That became a dark joke: Mom, Dad, I'm Haitian.

[@glh5622]

Thanks for this one Dr. E. 🏳️‍🌈

[@crystalpistey-lyhne3406]

Happy Pride Y'all!😵‍💫😪🤗🥰🫶🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🎛🖥💞💗

[@MadArtLang]

🏳️‍🌈❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🌈 thank you I'm doing all I can to learn about our history

[@Absbabs88]

I forgot what a good show that was.

[@Finkeldinken]

💝🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈❤️‍🩹 Just an Ace here, but one that is just old enough to remember all this from my childhood and adolescence. I am so thankful that our teachers back then, early nineties, had the outreach people from out national (then called LGBT alliance come tell us about sex, prevention, HIV-AIDS, stereotypes, hate crimes (they were not even called that yet!) and all that. They did a brilliant job and it meant a lot to me. Today I can't believe I had the luck of such forward looking teachers out in our rural area.

[@slm_766]

🥰💖💜💙🌈🌞♥🏳‍🌈 Happy Pride and Bless you Dr. Elliott

[@Zyryne1]

Pray was entirely in shock and he couldn't hurt his "children" like that. Be glad you weren't around for the dying days. When you get a phone call and a few weeks later are planning a funeral and doing security at said funeral so shitty parents don't ruin the Going Home of your loved one. It was the antithesis of good times. I hope to never see anything like it again. 😊❤

[@Mariahp81]

Happy Pride everyone! 🏳️‍🌈

[@jthomann71]

Have you seen some amazing AIDS-related projects like Angels in America, And the Band Played On, The Normal Heart? 🏳️‍🌈

[@Miss_Lexisaurus]

🏳‍🌈I'm here and I'm Queer!

[@Zyryne1]

Praytell's stance wasn't uncommon. The subset of "bug hunter" gays was a thing as well. Catastrophic on any field. What he says is facts also. Truly facts. Disgusting and sad, but true. It wasn't just insurance, people were denied all kinds of things due to being gay or their HIV status. It's still fully legal to fire someone for being gay in a few states. 😊❤

[@IWantToRideMyBike]

The girl getting the shot, was it hormones?

[@Redgal619]

🌈

[@RamiroHernandez1]

Dr. Elliott, are trying to play with my mind? what happend to Baby reindeer?

[@griffalo1013]

There’s a video he put out a little while back, explaining he wasn’t going to cover any more due to the media drama that was stirred up and threatened to pull him into it.

[@jujutaylor2186]

🏳️‍🌈❤️ live, laugh, love

[@MultiGreenG]

🌈 🏳️‍🌈 🌈 🏳️‍🌈 ❤

[@thorstenberninger]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈❤❤❤

[@allengalbreath5062]

Biology is just that

[@rubysmolen5155]

🌈🏳‍🌈 if looking for things to watch for pride videos- I suggest Degrassi Next Generation or MTV's faking it

[@arthur3817]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

[@maxjulmiste5558]

This is making me mad at this government can tell the truth

[@relaxedbro]

👍🏿👍🏿🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈

[@isabellecornfoot7201]

Oh. You really need to watch Eric. 🌈

[@EinsteinRosenBruecke]

🏳️‍🌈🌈🏳️‍🌈🌈🏳️‍🌈🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@lailaagrado]

🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍🌈

[@a_lethe_ion]

elliot im gonna sound like a masive C but that hair reminds me a lot of spocks hair helmet :D I mean maybe ist the zachary quinto fan cut ? idk i just noticed :D

[@jaybee4118]

Nothing wrong with a 60s style, mod, mop top! Have a look at British mods, the Beatles etc in the 60s, it’s very much that style. Which is sort of where the Spock hair is from, but in a very regimented way.

[@snezeire]

🏳‍🌈🌈

[@sophanders2982]

🏳️‍🌈🎉🩷💜❤️💛🩵

[@genadiaz1988]

🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️🪅🌈

[@grateful.little.farm.81]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@yumieke]

🌈🌈🌈🌈💐

[@ofga3]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@natalieJe10]

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈❤️

[@MarkW-rj4br]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@erisbob]

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

[@ChrisMinusHumour]

🌈🌈🏳‍🌈🏳‍⚧

[@vanessaaves3271]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[@felipebgomes8785]

🏳️‍🌈

[@Zyryne1]

Praytell went a little too hard on Candy. It shows the misogyny in the queer community, though. 😊❤

[@januarysidra6166]

🏳‍🌈

[@georgewallace6525]

Pos🏳️‍🌈 thanks

[@RealShebang]

🏳‍⚧

[@jacobbutler6904]

[@OrbitTheWorld]

[@Skulb1984]

[@ninino86]

If you like what youve seen here, you really should watch the entire show. It was great ❤💛🧡💚🩵💙💜❤️

[@TheJeminiteLaw]

🫶🏳️‍🌈🫶

[@andrewmartin2567]

🌈

[@trushitakhire1610]

🏳️‍🌈

[@Rose_Blue87]

🏳‍🌈

[@mmm5225]

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

[@Shinryu949]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@MellieLovesMakeup]

🏳️‍🌈🫶

[@carinarose8600]

🏳️‍🌈🌈

[@drasnaescastle]

🌈

[@darenallisonyoung8568]

🏳‍🌈

[@ninino86]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@samanthabustos8699]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@islasullivan3463]

🏳️‍🌈

[@wlb2j]

🌈