Meet Jeremiah
Jeremiah grew up in a dysfunctional home. His mother's constant drinking and fights between his parents left Jeremiah with very few rules to abide by while growing up. The challenges of his home life and his struggles with his sexuality overflowed and as a teenager, Jeremiah started to hang out with the wrong crowd and get into trouble with the law. The trouble included the use and selling of drugs. At the age of 21, Jeremiah was convicted of transporting drugs and was sentenced to spend the next four years of his life in a federal prison. During Jeremiah's stay in prison he recognized the risks and decided that he needed to protect himself from HIV. After serving his prison term, Jeremiah returned to Colorado to serve the rest of his sentence at a halfway house. A few weeks after being released, Jeremiah reunited with his high school girlfriend and soon after found out he was going to be a father. He felt sure that he was on his way to the American dream. Unfortunately that was far from the case. Jeremiah's daughter, Julia, came into the world and when she was born he understood for the first time what real love was. His life had come to a crossroad and in order to be honest with himself and his daughter he knew it was time to disclose his sexuality. he was committed to living his life to the fullest and practicing habits that would keep him safe. On a routine visit to the doctor he asked to have an HIV test and that afternoon Jeremiah found out a test result that would change his life forever. He was HIV positive. Thoughts of Julia not having a father ran through Jeremiah's head. He committed his life to keeping himself healthy and strong. Soon Jeremiah found a doctor and started his routine lab appointments. Jeremiah was determined to be there every step of the way for his daughter. He promised her that he would see her graduate from high school, go to college and get married. Today Jeremiah is a strong confident gay man and the father of a beautiful daughter. Each day Jeremiah's experiences with disclosing his status becomes easier. Jeremiah has accepted the fact that those in his life that cannot accept him should not be in his life. His goal is to put a face and voice with HIV and AIDS to show that it does not discriminate. He is proud to know that his actions of speaking up today will help his daughter feel less stigmatized for hiving an HIV positive daddy tomorrow.
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