Yang Chen tells us about his experience of discovering his HIV status and how Colorful Sky has helped him

June 1, 2009 had special significance for me. I went to a hospital, where a gay friend of mine took me to take an HIV test. I was greatly surprised when the test came back positive. The result showed that my CD4 count was only 339, and the doctor said that it was time that I started antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Meanwhile I was a second-year postgraduate student at a university in Yunnan. I was working on my graduation thesis on the one hand and had to cope with the great shock on the other. I was at a loss what to do. I lived under great pressure and I could not tell anyone about my painful experience. I felt like my life was pointless.

Luckily, I had a female friend who knew that I was gay, so I told her about my HIV status. Talking to her made things seem better.  A few weeks passed before I learned about the Colorful Sky group on the message board of a Yunnan gay website. I decided to give it a try and joined the group. The group had more than 100 members. I got to know about some facts about ART and made friends with some people who were in the same situation as me. Fearing exposure of my privacy, I didn’t have the courage to meet with other group members in person.

See the original news story on aidsalliance.org.

Photo credit: aidsalliance.org.