A new video has been released by the HIV Foundation in Queensland, which highlights the difficulties faced by HIV-positive men on dating apps like Grindr.
The campaign, titled Real Conversations of Grindr, shows people reading out real text conversations had on the app, between a HIV-positive person and a HIV negative person.
Sadly, the conversations turn abusive quickly.
The demeanour of the people featured in the video change from jovial and laughing while reading the beginning of an explicit, flirtatious conversation, to heartbroken and shocked as the conversation progresses to abuse towards the HIV-positive person.
"What the fuck's wrong with you", quotes one reader. "Go and spread your disease with some other poor fucker."
"You should be ashamed, you're a walking disease," reads another visibly distressed participant.
Other participants are unable to say certain messages out loud, because the content is too harrowing.
The video also features iconic musician Amanda Palmer, who the HIV Foundation noted on Youtube was "unbelievably engaged and committed to helping out with the booth and the campaign".
The video states that many HIV-positive people find the stigma far worse than the virus itself, and experience these types of interactions on apps like Grindr regularly.
It's noted that much of this stigma is from within the LGBTQ+ community, who were on the receiving end of widespread hate during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The aim of the campaign is to end the stigmatisation of HIV, from both heterosexual people and the LGBTQ+ community.
