By wirestock on Envato Elements.
First, it's important for you to know that not everyone who's queer or trans has HIV. And not everyone who has HIV is queer or trans.
For those who are living with HIV, it's private information, which they may or may not decide to share with you, now or in the future. If you're not having sex with someone and are neither their doctor nor the parent of someone who's below the age of medical consent (see the next point), you don't need to ask about their HIV status.
This can be true even for your child, once they've reached the age at which they can consent to medical care without your knowledge.
- Consent in adolescent health care
- Minor Consent to Routine Medical Care
- An Overview of Consent to Reproductive Health Services by Young People
- State-by-State Variability in Adolescent Privacy Laws
- State Laws on Minor Consent for Routine Medical Care
Also, keep in mind that people living with HIV, including children and youth, still face a huge amount of stigma and discrimination, which is where some of the hiding of HIV status comes from — along with living in a culture where we don't readily share medical information with each other. You can read more about that stigma in the second accordion below.
You'll find some information on safer sex on this page of R2T2.
