Open Letter to our gay, bisexual and transgender family,

HIV is real. Although we have seen amazing breakthroughs in the ability to lead a near normal life with modern medicine recently, the most important aspect in seeing a true end to HIV remains prevention efforts, attitudes, and definitive use of all tools currently available to reduce transmission of this real virus.

Many of you may have heard of PrEP -emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Truvada®) fixed dose combination for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk for HIV infection. Likewise, many of you may be confused by the different voices in the debate on the practicality, safety, adherence requirements and benefits of this prevention tool. While not minimizing any of these concerns, we believe that individuals should be empowered to make informed decisions about their use of PrEP as a, FDA-approved prevention strategy. Moreover, we do not believe it is necessarily a matter of choosing between PrEP or condom use/other forms of behavior change. PrEP can and should be viewed as an addition to, not a substitution for, our current arsenal of prevention strategies. These may or may not be used in combination depending upon the individual situation. We do also recognize the importance of safer sex counseling and regular HIV and STI testing, provided by authorized organizations and methods.

Therefore, the below signed influencers in the HIV and AIDS community, are officially endorsing and recommending our "family" to discuss using PrEP with your doctors and partners. PrEP, when used correctly and adhering to the recommended guidelines, is effective and efficient in drastically reducing your chance of acquiring HIV.

The time is now for all of us to stand up, again, and agree that this modern tool is necessary, effective, and needed. Please discuss PrEP with your physicians.

Sincerely,

**Josh Robbins, HIV Blogger, Activist & Founder of I'M STILL JOSH, imstilljosh.com

**Kevin Maloney, HIV Blogger, Activist & Founder of RISE UP TO HIV, riseuptohiv.org

**Alan McCord, Project Inform

**Timothy Brown, "The Berlin Patient" Timothy Ray Brown Foundation, worldaidsinstitute.org,

**Maria Mejia, International Social Media Activist, Founder of bilingual international support groups, thewellproject.org

**Ernest Hopkins, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, sfaf.org

**CAREXO, thecarexofoundation.org

**Anthony Maselli, Blogger, hstandsforhuman.com

**Nancy VanReece, Nashville Health Management Foundation, HIVmidtn.org

**Patrick Ingram, Blogger & Activist, pozlifeofpatrick.com

**Kirsty Sievwright, Stigma Warrior & Activist

**Brian Ledford, Blogger & Activist, hivmarine.blogspot.com

**Matt Borer, Ph.D. LMFT, mattborer.com

**Mark S. King, Blogger & Activist, myfabulousdisease.com

**Angel Hernandez, HIV Community Educator/Advocate

**Joseph Interrante, CEO, Nashville CARES, nashvillecares.org

**Anne Stangl, The Stigma Action Network, stigmaactionnetwork.org

**Robbie Maris, Street Works, street-works.org

**Joseph Brownell, Editor & Creative Dir., O&AN, outandaboutnashville.com

**LaLa Jackson, community member

**Jim Pickett, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, myprepexperience.blogspot.com, aidschicago.org

**Dana Van Gorder, Project Inform, projectinform.org

**Aaron Laxton, Blogger & Activist, MY HIV JOURNEY, youtube.com/laxtona

**Rob Quinn, HIV-positive Activist & Blogger, OPENLY POZ, openlypoz.com

**David Justin, community member

**Roy Wadia, Vice-Chair, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health

**David Ponsart, ACCESSHIV, accesscommunity.com

**Joseph Walker, Blogger & founder of HOUSE Of JOE, houseofjoe.com

**Damon L. Jacobs, LMFT, Private Practice Psychotherapist, shouldless.com

**Michael P. Donovan, Ph. D., LMHC

**William Cooke, Activist, williamcooke.net

**Eric Reece, community member

**Jeffrey Newman, Writer & Activist, jeffreynewman.com

**Charles King, Housing Works, housingworks.org

**Jim Eigo, AIDS activist

**Jason Green, celebrity hair stylist, Jason Orion Hair

**Steve Craftman, community member

**Stephen Houldsworth, community member

**Blake Flaugher, AVOL (AIDS Volunteers, Inc.), avolky.org

**Trevor Hoppe, community member

**Nicholas Literski, PrEP User for 3 years in serodiscordant relationship

**Walt Senterfitt, Community Member & Co-Founder HIV Prevention Justice Alliance

**Jayson Conner, Community Member, nycgraphix.com/blogphoto

**Keith Gereffi, community member

**David Phillips, contributor for PositiveLite.com

**Michael Luciano, Chair, MUSC/Lowcountry AIDS Svces Consumer Advisory BoarD

**Reginald Brown, Unity Fellowship Church NYC

**Jeffrey Goodman, MPH

**Olga Irwin, community member

**David Ostrow, David Ostrow & Associates

**Mark Hubbard, HIV Activist

**Kyon Saucier, People of Color Against AIDS Network

**Michael Louella, Outreach Coordinator, UW AIDS Clinical Trials Unit

**David Acosta, community member

**Tim Frasca, community member

**Evans Odhiambo Opany, lvct.org

**Audu Kadiri, IRMA Nigeria

**Devonte Robinson, community member

**Butch McKay, community member

**Mitchell Warren, AVAC, avac.org

**Roy Steele, Jiveinthe415.com, Blogger, Activist

**Christian Kiley, Unsure/Positive Productions

**Mat Strote, community member

**Jurgis Andriuska, Lithuania, Association "Pozityvus gyvenimas"

**Stacey Langley, community member/Bisexual Activist

**Robert Cross, AIDS and LGBT Aging Activist and Fundraiser

**Rick Cook, community member

**Matthew Smith, community member

**Heather Ramage, community member

**Aric Schramm, community aids resource and education services

**Josh Wynne, community member

**AJ Powell, AJcollaborative.org

**Jordan Monroe, community member

**Ant Babajee, Peer-support volunteer and trustee of Terrence Higgins Trust.

**Jonas Lundberg, community member

**Michael Anderson-Nathe, Cascade AIDS Project

**John Peller, AIDS Foundation of Chicago

**Lee Hawn, community member

**Octavio Vallejo, MD, MPH, community member

**Michael Anderson-Nathe, Cascade AIDS Project

**Brian Ledford, Blogger, Activist for AMarineandHIV.com

By signing this letter and providing contact information, please note that we will not sell your information or use the information to add to any email list. You are providing it solely for verification purposes.


Certain influencers have agreed to interviews by the media. Journalists, please email josh@imstilljosh.com for appropriate contact information.