Model behavior: HIV positive, negative folks say 'HIV Stops with Us'

When Alfredo Hernandez, 44, auditioned to be one of the spokesmodels in the Boston "HIV Stops with Us" ad campaign he knew that he might soon become a very public spokesperson for people living with HIV. Even so, he was taken aback when he began seeing his face plastered on billboards and transit advertisements around the city last month.

Hernandez, who is the men's health program coordinator at the Latin American Health Institute, said the reality set in when he walked into Back Bay Station recently and saw a giant poster of himself and one of his friends, an HIV-negative coworker. Like all of the posters in the series Hernandez's ad talked about the importance of positive and negative people working together to stop the spread of HIV and to support people living with the virus.

"It was weird. ... It was intimidating to me because of the size," said Hernandez.

A couple days later he confronted his nervousness about the ad campaign head on when he and some friends returned to the station and posed for photos in front of his poster. As they were taking photos Hernandez said some people standing nearby noticed that he was the person pictured in the ad, and they gave him the thumbs-up.

"That was reassuring," he said.

Hernandez is one of five HIV-positive spokesmodels participating in the campaign, which is coordinated locally by JRI Health and designed by Better World Advertising. The campaign is a new twist on a previous campaign, HIV Stops with Me, which featured photos of diverse local people living with HIV talking about their own determination to stay healthy and help to stop the spread of HIV. The latest campaign features two spokesmodels on each poster, an HIV-positive person in the foreground and an important person who is negative in the background. The posters emphasize that it is the responsibility of both HIV-positive and negative people to work to end the epidemic. Boston is one of five cities, along with New York, Buffalo, Long Beach and Oakland, where the ads are running. Each city has its own spokesmodels.

JRI held an official launch event for the campaign Sept. 8 at Club Caf? where all five of the Boston HIV-positive spokesmodels introduced themselves, talked about how they got involved in the campaign, and answered questions from the audience. All of the spokesmodels use only their first name in the campaign, although Hernandez introduced himself using his full name to the crowd at Club Caf?.

All five of the spokesmodels were already actively involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy before volunteering for the campaign. Alex, 22, and Dee, 24, co-facilitate JRI's Poz 20s support group, and Rob, 44, facilitates a long-term survivors group. Rosemarie, 56, speaks on panels about HIV and serves on consumer advisory boards.

Rosemarie, who is African American and who described herself as a "grandmother, a great grandmother, and a mother of five," said she hoped to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS within the black community.

"The African American people, culture has been decimated by HIV and AIDS," said Rosemarie. "I want to let people know that you don't have to be afraid to stand and say, 'I'm HIV-positive.'"

Dee, the first transgender person to serve as a Boston spokesmodel for the "HIV Stops with" series, said she hoped to raise awareness about risks for HIV infection both in the trans community and among young people. She told Bay Windows that in her own experience many trans women, particularly those working in the sex industry because of a lack of other opportunities, know that they're at high risk for infection, but believe that they themselves are unlikely to be infected.

"I think there's also a lot of feelings in the community that it happens to other girls," said Dee.

Like Hernandez, Dee was also taken aback when she started seeing posters of herself spring up around the city identifying her as both transgender and HIV-positive. She encountered one at the Roxbury Crossing MBTA station, just one stop away from where she lives in Jamaica Plain.

"It's been a little surreal, to be honest," said Dee, adding that the response from her neighbors has been extremely positive.

John Ruiz, director of peer support services at JRI, who helps administer the campaign, praised the courage of current and past campaign spokesmodels.

"Being HIV-positive and putting your face on a poster and slapping it around the whole city takes a lot of courage," Ruiz told the crowd at Club Caf?. "The message is, 'I am HIV-positive, and I have nothing to be ashamed of.'"