A student at Fort Lewis College once asked Bailey Carlson whether HIV could be contracted from a toilet seat.
Carlson, the Colorado HIV programs manager for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, hears variations of that question regularly. The misconceptions, he said, underscore how much education about HIV remains to be done, particularly in rural communities.
Across the state, tobacco users support programs aimed at HIV prevention through taxes applied to most nicotine products. People are smoking less, meaning less money, but education and prevention advocates like Carlson said the need for such programs still exist.
“I’d love to say we could eradicate stigma, but with the lack of education and federal funding being cut from HIV prevention, I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” Carlson said. “It’s a daunting task for a small group of people.”
Although La Plata County reports relatively few HIV cases, Carlson said Southwest Colorado remains a “resource desert,” where residents often have less access to accurate information about HIV prevention and treatment and where stigma surrounding the virus persists.
“When I got diagnosed, especially as a straight guy, I realized that I didn’t know anything about it. I thought I was just going to die,” said T, a Durango educator living with HIV who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the stigma still associated with the diagnosis.
Planned Parenthood launched its HIV program in Durango in 2018 and has since expanded its outreach across Southwest Colorado, providing free testing, prevention supplies, education and referrals while building partnerships with FLC, Four Corners Alliance for Diversity, La Plata County Public Health and other community organizations.
Carlson said the HIV program had a standing community outreach event on the schedule since it partnered with Aria PettyOne to appear at drag trivia nights. That has been put on hold since the recent closing of the Starlight Lounge.
This summer, the program saw a 30% reduction in funding, Carlson said. The program is funded through a state grant that uses Colorado tobacco-tax revenue. As the state’s tobacco use declines, so does support for HIV programming.
“I mean, it’s a good thing that people aren’t using tobacco as much, but it is impacting funding for HIV prevention,” he said.
Carlson said the funding cut is manageable, thanks in part to community partnerships and donor support. What concerns him more are broader national trends.
Federal cuts to certain HIV programs rolled down the pipeline in July as the White House has rolled out its 2027 budget request that proposed the elimination of $800 million of HIV prevention funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While Durango’s program is not federally funded, Carlson’s worry is that nationwide cuts to HIV prevention programs will exacerbate a political climate that he believes is fueling renewed stigma around HIV and LGBTQ+ communities just as decades of public education had begun to erode that stigma.
During the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, fear and misinformation shaped public understanding of HIV. The virus, initially and incorrectly viewed by many as a disease affecting only gay men, became one of the leading causes of death among American men ages 25 to 44 before effective treatments became available.
Today, HIV is a manageable chronic condition. With consistent treatment, people with HIV can expect a normal life expectancy and those who achieve an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit the virus.
T said he still believes many county residents living with HIV are likely handling it without support, either because they are “in the closet” or are homophobic and still incorrectly think of it as a “gay disease.”
People need to be reminded that HIV is “not a gay disease,” T said. “It’s an infectious disease with a functional cure.”
The HIV program will have a table at Durango Pride on Sept. 9 at Buckley Park.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
