Safe Space Dating Apps for People with VD, Hepatitis, and AIDS

Yes, there are actually websites that assist those with sexually transmitted diseases in finding long term relationships or one night stands.

Back in early 2001, a potentially dying man with HIV flowing through his veins wanted to find a way for others like him to build sexual relationships amongst HIV suffering men and women.

At just 125 Rick Burton launched a website called HIVNet, one of the first STD only dating communities on the internet.

"It was started for purely selfish reasons, I thought it would last six months or a year," Rick said. "I could meet some people and shut the thing down."

Rick Burton was first diagnosed in the mid-1980s, when much of America was still treating HIV and AIDS as if it didn't affect the masses because at the time it was perceived as supposedly only killing gay people and White House officials laughed about the problem.

Rick says those early years were like living in "survival mode." Rick was just another soul in a community of people fearing death or resigned to their inevitable fate, bracing themselves for their last breathe.

However in the mid-'90s, as the first protease inhibitors were integrated into healthcare and HIV-positive people started getting a little less sick, it became clear there was still a life left to lead and possible hope for the longevity of existence.

"Instead of living on a six-month timeframe, all the sudden you were thinking 'You know, I might have a couple years left here,'" says Burton. There was still a massive social stigma attached to being HIV positive or having ‘full blown AIDS.

Rick went on to say, "The minute you told your friends about it, they were gone. You told your family about it and they were gone. The Internet was a gold nugget we found because we could socialize with other positive people all over the country. To me, that was a life-saver."

Now that a long 15 years later have passed, HIVNet is still going strong, with some original members being part of the community since the founding of the website.

Its membership is strictly for people who are actively living with the HIV positive diagnosis, which is something Rick prides himself in, but in 2017 there are now several competitive sites on the Internet.

There's PositiveSingles, which is an exclusive dating app that's marketed to people with both HIV and herpes simplex virus. Another site called Hope, specifically calling itself "the best free herpes dating site and App for singles with herpes and other STDs to find love and support."

A wayward organization called POZ, a New York-based media outlet has its own extensive personals section with over 150,000 contagious members. Finally, there exists PozMatch, a site exclusive to HIV, like HIVNet, and also an HIV-positive owner and has been around since the late '90s.

With a unique user interface on these services, they have still some similarities to what you might find on Tinder or OkCupid. They each have an "about me" an “interests” section, and a specific questionnaire for height, weight, religion, or sexuality that the user may be craving lust from.

Most importantly however to the users is the ability to list what STD you have or seek to match with. Yes, pick a disease. Chlamydia, Hepatitis, HPV, Herpes, or HIV/AIDS.

On the website PositiveSingles, you can find resources such as boards full of treatment advice and date success stories, as well as a navigator that points you to your nearest care center.

Each of the sites says that disclosure is the most important part of dating someone with an STD. It's not exactly something that everyone ever feels comfortable doing at first, but it's also not something you should keep from your partner.

There is strict legislation across the United States that punishes the failure to disclose STD-positive status with prison time. Many states will prosecute you for having sexual relations with someone if you have a disease and don't tell them ahead of time.

Such websites as these help the terminal or suffering from diseases crowd of Americans turn to dating apps targeted specifically at the positive community.

Many people appreciate this, like John Anderson. A few years back John says he took home a one night stand from a friend's house party, and soon after contracted Herpes. "I knew what I had wasn't life ending in any way, but I was also very aware that it was life altering," Said the 27-year-old. "My common sense told me my personal life had taken a hard right turn."

Anderson says soon after contraction of the virus he deleted his Tinder and Plenty of Fish accounts. He said after becoming depressed from lack of pleasure or sexual relief he returned to mainstream online dating momentarily but felt hopeless due to the many rejections because of his Herpes.

After the countless rejections, he found about the safe space for STDs dating community and he signed up for PositiveSingles. He said he can now regularly have sex without worries and it's built a great future for him.

Such applications and websites have been crucial for letting other STD transmitting people find love, and for the rest of us without STD, knowing where the hell to stay away from.

Source

https://8ch.net/pol/res/10227737.html