Dexter Davis

Happy Long-Term Survivors Day. ❤️

This post features a few songs that defined an era:

🎵 "Double Dutch Bus" (1981)
🎵 "Candy" (1986)
🎵 "Electric Boogie (The Electric Slide)" (1989)

These are more than songs. They're memories.

While people were dancing at cookouts, family reunions, house parties, clubs, and weddings, there were also people living through the HIV epidemic. People who laughed to these songs, danced to these songs, fell in love to these songs, and made lifelong memories with friends who would later be lost.

When we talk about long-term survivors, we're talking about people who have lived 35, 40, and even 45+ years with an HIV diagnosis. We're talking about people who survived a time when there were no effective treatments, when insurance often refused coverage, when stigma was everywhere, and when many buried friend after friend while wondering whether they would be next.

Some survivors took dozens of pills a day just to stay alive. Some became too sick to work. Many fought for the resources we now take for granted. The systems, medications, programs, and protections available today were built through their advocacy, their resilience, and their refusal to give up.

Long-term survivors carry both gratitude and grief. Gratitude for the gift of life. Grief for the people they loved who are no longer here.

As we celebrate Pride Month, I invite you to learn from those who lived through this history. Ask your parents, your older siblings, your cousins, your mentors, and your community elders what they remember about the 1980s and 1990s. Ask what it was like. Listen to their stories.

For many of us, this history feels distant. For long-term survivors, it is not history. It is lived experience.

Today, we honor the people who survived. We honor the people who fought. We honor the people who were lost. And we give thanks to those who are still here to tell their stories.

Happy Long-Term Survivors Day. We are grateful for your courage, your resilience, and your testimony.

Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

You have the power to spread love, light, and education! Use it!

❤️💞❤️

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