As romance authors, it’s important that the stories we tell have a happy ending. It’s the founding tenant of the genre. But as responsible adults, it’s also in our purview to weave yarns with responsibility. On this 37th annual World AIDS Day, I am reminded of the importance of my responsibility to include the usage of condoms in intimacy scenes I write. I am reminded of my responsibility to encourage condom usage with my readers, because not everybody had the same comprehensive sex education as young people.
“Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today” (HIV.gov). Today, there is still no cure for HIV disease. There is no cure for AIDS. So that means that if you do not have HIV disease, you need to know how to not get it. And if you do have HIV disease, you need to know how to not spread it.
– Get tested.
– Know your status.
– Wear a condom.
– Communicate with your partner.
– Love responsibly.
Until the cure …
