Have You Ever?, Health, Sex, Video
01 December 2011

I remember the first time I got tested for HIV. It was my first year in college, and it should have happened sooner than it did. You see, if you can believe it or not, I was rather promiscuous in my youth. I had a thing for older guys, and they had a thing for me. None of these encounters occurred without a condom, so the idea of getting tested seemed unnecessary to me.
It wasn’t until a confrontation with one of my regular hook-ups that I realized the fault in this logic. It’s important to know your status, even if you don’t think you’ve ever engaged in any risky behavior. With that thought in mind, I hopped in the car with my “sex friend” and headed to the local LGBT health clinic.
The actual test was painless. A small prick on my finger, and the results would be ready in less than a half hour. I mean, how frickin’ easy! As someone who’s extremely afraid of needles, it was comforting to know that I didn’t have to get blood drawn. Just one small prick. That’s all.
And then came the hard part—waiting. Those fifteen to twenty minutes stretched on for what seemed like days, as I met with a counselor and relived my entire sex life. What about that one time the condom broke? What if I was one of those rare cases of contracting HIV through oral sex? What if the test came back positive? What if the test came back positive?
That last question circled around in my brain over and over again, until someone returned with the results. The rest of the story is a blur. A sigh of relief, a handful of condoms, a dinner date at Boston Market (my pal was super classy), and a naughty celebration back at his place, during which we went through a good portion of those aforementioned condoms…
This is my convoluted way of asking if you’ve ever been nervous before, during or after an HIV test. It’s also another drawn-out introduction for the lads of It Gets Betterish, who sparked all these memories with the latest installment of their web series. Click through to watch it, and be sure to head over here for a list of testing resources.
- Dewitt
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