Living Out Loud with Darian

Timothy Daniels and Tadhi Coulter are a gay couple living in Los Angeles. Timothy has been living with HIV for over 20 years and his long time partner Tadhi is HIV negative. I had the pleasure of meeting these two extraodinary individuals during my time in L.A. where we all frequented In The Meantime Men's Group .

They are co-founders of the organizationStanding -NTruth and have made it their mission to educate, empower, and mobilize the Black community around HIV/AIDS. One of the organizations tools for educating the masses about the facts about HIV/AIDS and the stigma attatched to the disease is a documentary that goes by the same name(Standing -N-Truth).

Recently Timothy and Tadhi shared their story of being in a committed relationship, the rejection of certain family members, and dealing with Timothy's positive status on National Public Radio.

I've often said that it's imperative that we go out and tell our own stories or we risk having someone else tell them for us.This is exactly what Timothy has done. It takes an amazing amount of courage to stand up in front of a room filled with strangers and announce that you're gay and also HIV- positive.

I saw his documentary for the first time last September at a screening during Atlanta's Black Gay Pride Celebration and was deeply moved by how raw and uninhibited the stories were of the people involved in the film. HIV/AIDS is not the death sentence it once was, but the invention of life saving drugs should not cause us to become complacent. The fight to eradicate this terrible disease is far from over. Timothy and Tadhi along with their organization is a beautiful example of what can be accomplished when you choose love over fear and life over death.

Check out the documentary Standing- N-Truth below:

Standing -N- Truth:

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Labels: Activism, HIV/AIDS