May 14, 2019 – POZ.
by Olivia G. Ford
Gina Brown commemorates 25 years of living with HIV.
Gina Marie Brown was not going to let April 4, 2019, go unacknowledged. "I want women to know that we can celebrate us; we're still here," Brown said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of. We have no reason to not get our needs met. We have no reason to not laugh, and love."
On that day, in 1994, a nurse delivered the words that Brown has repeated countless times in retelling the story of her diagnosis: "You have AIDS and you’re going to die." Twenty-five years later, an exuberant crowd gathered in Brown’s native New Orleans to celebrate the extraordinary life that has proven that nurse flat wrong.
"It goes back to what we decided when she first was diagnosed: that she was going to live beyond that," said Brown's oldest sister, Yolanda B. Hawkins. Hawkins, along with Brown's aunt, other sister, niece, cousins, daughter, and dozens of community members from across the United States, was in attendance to commemorate Brown's 25th "seroversary." Continue reading on POZ...
