Positive Women's Network - USA

Positive Women's Network - USA A membership body of trans & cis women & gender diverse & trans folks living with HIV organizing for our liberation!
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Positive Women’s Network – USA is a national membership body of cis & trans women & gender diverse & trans people living with HIV and our allies that exists to strengthen the strategic power of all people living with HIV in the United States. Founded in 2008 by 28 diverse leaders living with HIV, PWN-USA develops a leadership pipeline and policy agenda that applies a gender and racial justice lens to the domestic HIV epidemic grounded in social justice and human rights.

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Millicent Foster from LA! 🥳 PWN’s policy fellowship is a...
08/27/2026

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Millicent Foster from LA! 🥳

PWN’s policy fellowship is a 13-month program designed to build the policy leadership of folks directly impacted by the epidemic and historically underrepresented in federal health policy advocacy.

Millicent's practicum project Modernization of Louisiana’s HIV Exposure Law describes her work with the Louisiana Coalition on
Criminalization and Health to revise criminalization law in the state. You can read more at https://tinyurl.com/pwn-fellows-26

08/25/2026

PWN-USA joined in presenting on the complexities of HIV disclsosure and intimate partner violence during the National Conference to End Domestic Violence.

As Barb Cardell, Yolanda Bell, and Robin Pereira shared, intimate partner violence can manifest in many ways, including: Emotional abuse, surveillance, physical violence, coercion, isolation, medical abuse, economic deprivation, and blackmail through children.

We must not forget that nearly 1 in 4 women living with HIV who discloses experieneces intimate partner violence. More than this, no we are all more than our HIV status. And no one has a right to hurt us.

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Xeena Ellison from LA! 🥳 PWN’s policy fellowship is a 13...
08/25/2026

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Xeena Ellison from LA! 🥳

PWN’s policy fellowship is a 13-month program designed to build the policy leadership of folks directly impacted by the epidemic and historically underrepresented in federal health policy advocacy.

Xeena's practicum project KOMATOSE explores accessible HIV/STI testing possibilities that integrate harm reduction, community meals, performance, film, and disability-friendly environments into welcoming spaces for connection and wellness. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/pwn-fellows-26

08/24/2026

Scientists like to act like the science of U=U is a given. Even though folks at the CDC spent years contradicting it.

And let’s not forget that some folks walk around talking about U=U without really knowing what it means. On September 9th, our incredible Communications Fellow Xeena Ellison leads a panel of experts on a discussion about reclaiming the messaging behind U=U.

Danielle Warren-Dias
Marnina Miller
David Malebranche
REGISTER: tinyurl.com/reclUeU

U=U (aka Undetectable equals Untransmittable), is the science showing that people with HIV who are in treatment and have fewer than 200 copies per m/L can’t transmit the virus even through condomless s*x.

Our panel is pushing back against bad faith arguments, terrible public health messaging, and attempts to stigmatize folks who can’t get to Undetectable by uplifting what works with health messaging, how we got here, and why the CDC needs to apologize for its failures.

This panel was conceived by sista robertha Anne sparrowz through the PWN Comms Baddies Fellowship. It is funded through the Health Not Prisons Collective, with a grant from Gilead Sciences.

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Denise Drayton from MD! 🥳 PWN’s policy fellowship is a 1...
08/20/2026

Please join us in celebrating our recent policy fellow graduate Denise Drayton from MD! 🥳

PWN’s policy fellowship is a 13-month program designed to build the policy leadership of folks directly impacted by the epidemic and historically underrepresented in federal health policy advocacy. They completed 14 web sessions, 8 office hours, and a 6-month practicum period.

You can read more about Denise's practicum project United for Justice: Advancing the Movement for HIV Criminalization Reform and Decriminalization at https://tinyurl.com/pwn-fellows-26

08/19/2026

When LaDawn Tate & Bee V saw that USCHA’s workshop submissions all but excluded people without credentials or employment at medical institutions, they asked Harold Phillips: Is USCHA for community members or credentialed professionals?

In thoughtful conversation that included Leandro Mena and Melissa Rodrigo, Harold apologized to LaDawn and Bee, told them that NMAC had changed its application process, and affirmed that USCHA is for community members. Harold also stated that he wanted community members to reach out when they see a problem and to help them all do better.

Instead of complaining about a problem, let’s all talk to each other to ensure we are fixing the problems that others might not see. Read Bee and LaDawn’s full report on Positively Aware: tinyurl.com/SpkPWU

Thank you to Rick Guasco for giving our Communications Fellows their first assignment. Their fellowship is possible because of the Health Not Prisons Collective grant, which is funded by Gilead Sciences. We are all in this together, so let’s work together to build up our communities.

08/18/2026

Sometimes working behind scenes to correct stigma is the right thing to do.

This morning, Positive Women's Network - USA reached out to a publication asking that it fix a stigmatizing headline. The headline in question implied that a pregnant mother with HIV tried to transmit HIV.

The substance of the story was actually about a newly diagnosed woman who, instead of focusing on herself, informed authorities that she'd donate milk to informal milk banks over social media and helped them ensure no other transmissions took place. None did.

What should have focused on this woman's sheroism or even brought attention to the importance of screening milk and other bodily fluids turned into a work of stigma.

Fortunately, the publication adjusted their headline. We reached out to them because we believe in giving people a chance to do right. Most publications don't mean to stigmatize our community and want to do right. But when you don't include people who are affected by your reporting in the process, this is what happens.

This is another reason why we continue to advocate for the meaningful involvement of people living with HIV. Please know that if we give people a chance to fix their harm and they decline: We will name and shame how they are harming our community.

We are all in this together. So let's stop HIV stigma TOGETHER.

Let's talk about some news that we LOVE! Congratulations to New York Transgender Advocacy Group's:1. New Board President...
08/17/2026

Let's talk about some news that we LOVE! Congratulations to New York Transgender Advocacy Group's:

1. New Board President, our friend Jasmine Banks
2. To our sister Tiommi Jenae Luckett on joining the Board of Directors 3. And to our brother in power Kenyon Farrow on 10 years of service as outgoing Board President.

We know Kiara's star is shining even brighter under your continued support!

Learn more about NYTAG at: https://www.nytag.org/about

08/12/2026

Are you mad that it isn't safe for women living with HIV to share their status? Or are you mad that some women can't share their status because it's unsafe to do so?

Don't stay mad. Do something to ensure all women are safe to share. If they choose to.

08/11/2026

This is the word. This is the work. If you want to talk about our private health information, make it safe for us to speak on it. If we choose to.

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