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Breaking my silence: A pastor’s journey with HIV
Andries Coetzee shares his journey of living with HIV, confronting stigma in the church, and embracing his God-given identity with courage and dignity.
by Andries Coetzee
February 27, 2025
For years, I have concealed my true identity as a gay man and living with HIV. What might seem like deception was a desperate attempt to protect myself from judgment, rejection, and the burden of losing my livelihood. This inner conflict has left me physically and emotionally exhausted, and I am grateful to finally reach a point in my life to claim my God-given identity and human dignity.
February 28 marks HIV is Not a Crime Awareness Day, established in 2022 to confront HIV criminalization laws. These laws, present in 30 U.S. states and 92 countries, wrongfully heighten criminal charges based on HIV status, disproportionately impacting Black and Latino communities, LGBTQIA+ people, and other marginalized groups. As a gay man, husband, father, grandfather, pastor, and person living with HIV, I am grateful that medical advances have made my condition manageable. Treatment granted me a life expectancy similar to HIV-negative individuals and eliminated transmission risk.
While science has advanced, outdated attitudes persist. Faith communities have often been complicit in the criminalization of this disease through silence, judgment, and theological frameworks that treat HIV status as evidence of moral failure rather than a medical condition. Such treatment keeps people living with HIV (PLHIV) from embracing our God-given identity. Thriving with HIV requires more than just healthcare — we need life-affirming communities that embrace us with love and acceptance.
Read the rest of this article, "Breaking my silence: A pastor’s journey with HIV," by visiting pres-outlook.org.
Contact:
Rose Schrott Taylor
Digital Content Editor
info@pres-outlook.org
Presbyterian Outlook
Source: THE PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK
https://pres-outlook.org/2025/02/breaking-my-silence-a-pastors-journey-with-hiv/
"Reproduced with permission - THE PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK"
THE PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK
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