Why does Brandon see hope in LGBTQ+ youth?

Brandon Wolf, Press Secretary of Equity Florida, discusses the dangers of HIV Criminalization and where he sees opportunity for change.

The following is a transcript of the conversation between Brandon and Karl.

BRANDON
I find a lot of hope in young people, especially LGBTQ young people.

KARL
Welcome to Plus Talk on Plus Life where we’re all about turning positive into a plus. And today we are talking about HIV criminalization and the damage that it continues to do. Joining me is the Press Secretary from Equality Florida, Brandon Wolf. Good to see you, Brandon.

BRANDON
Thank you so much for having me.

KARL
You are a busy man these days, aren’t you, with everything that’s going on not just in Florida, but around the country?

BRANDON
Yeah, busy, busy. I like to stay busy. Grateful to be doing good work in the community and yeah, good to be with you, as well.

KARL
Well, you are truly an inspiration, I’ve gotta say. I mean, as President Biden wrote personally to you, you really are the definition of turning pain into purpose and you’ve really made that your mission since the aftermath of the awful events of what happened in 2016. In just reading through the notes that I, doing my homework on you, I like that you say “America may run on Duncan, but I run on hope.” Tell me where that hope comes from in the midst of just the mess it seems that we are in, not just as LGBTQIAP+ people, but as Americans on a whole.

BRANDON
Yeah well, listen. I know that right now it can feel a little overwhelming. It can feel a little dark and scary and certainly for marginalized communities, this is a pretty treacherous time in our nation’s history. But I find hope in a lot of things. I find hope, first and foremost in the lives and legacies of my best friends who are unfortunately not here with us anymore. They gave me a lot of hope every single day they were on Earth. And I try to carry that hope and optimism with me wherever I go. I find a lot of hope in young people, especially LGBTQ young people who have stood up really unapologetically and demanded a world that sees them, that affirms them, that celebrates them. And right now, in this, again, very treacherous moment, I find a lot of hope. I take a lot of solace in an understanding that we’ve been in these moments before. Specifically, the LGBTQ community has been in this position before. We’ve been in this position with fewer allies, with fewer resources. So I find a lot of hope in an understanding that our community has been here before, we’ve fought tough battles, but what was just over the horizon was even better than we could have imagined it.

KARL
Tell me a bit about the Drew Project, because this is something that started obviously in the aftermath and I know your relationship with your best friend. Tell us where that stands today and what you’re most proud of with that.

BRANDON
Yeah, the Drew Project is so near and dear to my heart. We launched the organization in July after the shooting at Pulse, and our goal was really very simple. We said, “Drew changed our lives for the better.” He’s the first person that taught me it’s okay to love yourself exactly as you are. He’s the first really intersectional queer person that I saw living boldly and unapologetically and we wanted to carry those things on. We said we wanted the best parts of Drew to live on, and that was our goal in launching the organization. One of the things he was most proud of was in high school, I think it was 2004 in very rural Florida, so you can imagine what the climate was back then, he launched his school’s first Gay Straight Alliance Student Club. And it was difficult. He wasn’t welcomed with open arms by the entire community, but it was important to him to create a space where he could celebrate himself, where his friends and fellow classmates could see themselves celebrated, as well, where they could learn about one another. And so we launched an organization that we felt was doing the same things he would be doing if he was here. We’ve helped to sponsor and establish Gay Straight Alliance student clubs around the world now. We authored the country’s most comprehensive curriculum guide to help those clubs find value in their time together. And of course, our pride and joy is the dollars we’re able to give back to those students. Our goal has always been help them identify and form spaces to learn to be themselves, and then take them on a journey and then help them get access to higher education so they can achieve their wildest dreams. To date, we’ve given I think just over $15,000 in grants to those small student clubs to do everything from make signs, to eat pizza together, to go on field trips to learn more about LGBTQ history and culture. And we’ve given over $100,000 in college scholarships to queer young people who are achieving their dreams. When you asked what fills my bucket with that work, what makes me most proud, it’s the broad range of young people who are already changing the world that we’ve been able to support. It’s not that we are giving them the tools needed to do that. They’re already doing it. We’re just helping to move obstacles aside. And they just range. There’s people who’ve majored in veterinary science who are out taking care of animals in the world. There are political science majors, there are med students who are helping people achieve physical wellness. There are just so many incredible young people who are already changing the world that I am really proud to have been able to support in Drew’s honor. And again, the Drew Project is really near and dear to my heart

KARL
I do want to touch on a topic that’s really important to me, and that is HIV criminalization laws. And I know that you guys have been doing some great work with Equality Florida as far as some of these, I mean, they’re just, again, stupid, stupid, out-of-date laws. How do we go about fixing this, Brandon? Because it is a big problem. Right now in many states in this country, I could go to jail for not disclosing my HIV status, even though I’m undetectable, which means I can’t transmit the virus. No intent has to be proven. Literally, “Oh, he didn’t tell me he’s HIV positive.” I can go to jail.

BRANDON
Yeah, that’s right. And people have used it in a very vindictive manner. Florida is one of those states where not disclosing your HIV status could result in felony charges, which means you would be facing five, 10, perhaps 15 years in prison for attempted murder because you didn’t disclose your HIV status, despite the fact that science tells us there is no chance that that person could have ever contracted HIV from a sexual encounter with you. And so part of our work has been to bring the law up to science, to eliminate those felony charges, to help educate people in the capitol. And you’d be surprised that maybe we don’t agree on a lot of other issues, especially like transgender rights and the rights of LGBTQ people in general. But we do actually have a large bipartisan coalition who support the idea of decriminalizing HIV, of getting people access to the resources they need. We’ve got a lot of people, Republican politicians included, who’ve been personally impacted by HIV and AIDS, who’ve lost family members. And so I think our job is A, to keep educating people and B, to keep advocating for real policy changes that say we’ve learned a lot since 1980 and it’s time to make sure our laws reflect that. We’ve got real policy solutions that bring us into a modern age where law reflects science and doesn’t continue to push people, because I think it’s important to note that criminalizing HIV only accomplishes one thing, and that is discourages people from knowing their status. And so if we continue to educate people and say the best thing we can do for people is to encourage them to get tested, encourage them to use safer sex practices and make sure the law reflects the science, we’re not terrorizing people into not getting tested, that’s the combination that’s gonna help us finally move beyond the HIV and AIDS crisis in this country.

KARL
Do you feel confident that the #HIVcriminalizationlawsare going to change?

BRANDON
I think yes. I think all of these things we talk about are generational issues as much as they are cultural issues. It’s a lot like, I think gun violence prevention and other things where we have a young generation of people who just have had access to information and the world a lot longer than generations that came before them. The #TikTok era, the social media era in general means that young people are exposed to different ways of life, to different people, to new thoughts and ideas. And so I do think that young people are gonna be the answer to fixing a lot of these problems. And again, I think we’ve made progress. We saw last year, even as the don’t say gay law was marching through the legislature, we saw some bipartisan support around adding HIV decriminalization to a broader healthcare package. That healthcare package failed later on because of unrelated reasons, but they were willing to amend it to include HIV decriminalization and support for HIV and AIDS resources. So I think the support is there. I think it’s growing. I think the more we can do to educate young people on the platforms where they’re receiving information every single day, means that this will not be simply a cultural issue, but rather a generational issue and the next generation can help us to fix it.

KARL
Brandon Wolf, you are an impressive human being. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for all the great work you do. And it’s been an absolute pleasure, my friend.

BRANDON
Thank you, the pleasure was mine.

KARL
That’s gonna do it for this episode of Plus Talk. If you want more information, check out the website pluslifemedia.com. And remember, you can follow us across all social media platforms. We are @pluslifemedia. Until next time, be nice to each other. We’ll see you soon.