I don’t live with HIV, but I coexist with it, meaning I had losses due to the HIV and some of the people I love the most live with it. I am 18 years as an activist on HIV prevention. I am part of the generation that heard about HIV when I was about 10 years old and from there grew up listening to prevention messages, especially misdirected and full of prejudice, which had the impact that my early sex life were full of fear, displeasure and prejudice. When I reached 18 years of age I began meeting with a group of young people my age to discuss issues affecting us as LGBT. At 20 I started volunteering at a nonprofit called Colectivo Sol, AC, www.colectivosol.org and have devoted much of my work to reduce stigma and discrimination related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV infection.

Currently I’m working as project assistant for the Political Sustainability Project, funded by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Colectivo Sol is the linking organization for the Alliance in México. We are working on budgetary advocacy aimed to sustain the civil society response to HIV in Mexico given that the international donors and foundations are leaving Mexico due we were declared a middle-income Country by some international instances on economy. We’re training ourselves and other CSO and activists on Advocacy, specifically on Budgetary Advocacy so we can meet Members of the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico in order to ensure the government investment on HIV prevention and care.

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Actualmente estoy trabajando como asistente de proyecto para el Proyecto de Sostenibilidad Política, financiado por la International HIV/AIDS Alliance, que tiene su base en Brighton, Reino Unido. Colectivo Sol es la organización de enlace para la Alianza en México. Estamos trabajando en incidencia presupuestaria destinada a sostener la respuesta de la sociedad civil al VIH en México, dado que los donantes y fundaciones internacionales están dejando México debido a que fuimos declaradas un país de ingreso medio, por parte de algunas de las instancias internacionales en materia de economía. Estamos entrenándonos y a otras OSC y activistas en Incidencia Política, en específico sobre Incidencia Presupuestira de manera que podamos reunirnos con miembros de la Cámara de Diputados en México con el fin de asegurar la inversión del gobierno en la prevención y atención del VIH.