“He had not told me, so that was a guilt trip I went through. And when I came back, I discovered he had died from complications of AIDS,” said Bowen. “I didn't take ownership of being positive until my dearest friend transitioned while I was on vacation. And to be in a place where I never thought I would be, I'm actually living just like you, because every day is a new beginning.” “Many times, people look at seniors and think that they're at the end or that they're just living from memory to memory. “I found a base, a brotherhood that looked just like me,” said Townsend.
He chose a new beginning, and that included moving to Atlanta and finding brotherhood in “The Silver Lining Project.” And that was very random,” he said.Īt 64, Townsend said he faced a choice: “Am I just going to sit here and get older and die? Or am I going to go somewhere and start a new beginning?” So a lot of people either ended up being homeless and struggling or were able to collect disability. And once you found out that you had AIDS, you couldn't go to work. “You couldn't work, not because you were physically unable to work, but because nobody wanted to be near you. “I remember they had a big program-if you're living with HIV, well, if you’ve got AIDS you can sell your life insurance policy. I didn't get into a long-term relationship because I wasn't going to be here,” he said.Īccording to Reid, who echoed Townsend’s experience, the sale of life insurance policies in the late 80s and early 90s for people living with HIV was common. Townsend tells The Reckoning that he was given two years to live, so he began wrapping up his life, but not without reflecting on the parts of it he thought he’d never get to experience. And I thought, well, if I'm going to die, I'd rather be around people that I knew the whole time I was there as a resident,” he said. I had to go to supportive living, but it was communal living. So when I was released, I couldn't go back to my home. “I had to get a blood transfusion, and they really thought they were going to lose me.
“I had four T-cells, and I was in the hospital for 40 days,” said Townsend. Townsend, a Philadelphia native, and former group home manager for people living with HIV learned of his HIV status in 1984 and says he was once a client at the group home he eventually managed. And so all of a sudden COVID brought back all the trauma, all the tearful memories of those we lost,” he said. If you didn’t see them anymore, you assumed they were gone, and you were usually right. And all of a sudden memories from yesterday started flashing in front of me-how it was in the 80s, where friends just disappeared from the dance floor. “I was traveling all over the country, and then in March, it just stopped. “I never realized until COVID, how much my public persona fueled my emotional status,” said Townsend.
It was their first step towards increasing the visibility of Black gay men living with HIV over 50 and ensuring they continued to have a sense of community.įor Nathan Townsend, 66, a THRIVE SS board member and public speaker, the temporary disruption of The Silver Lining Project by the pandemic had an impact both personally and professionally. Reid tells The Reckoning that in the beginning stages of what would ultimately become “The Silver Lining Project” through a grant awarded by Gilead in 2018, the men initially connected for a photoshoot arranged by Program Coordinator Darryl “DC” Branch, via Facebook Messenger. And I started a group called Mature Men of Color.” “And so I walked out of there and I said, okay, I can do this. Was he talking to me? I know nothing about this,” said Reid. “I said, I don't see anything for guys my age. Reid, the Director of Programs at Thrive SS, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Black gay/bisexual men living with HIV, recalls the moment he was called to action by Thrive SS Executive Director, Larry Walker, to create a space that reflected his experience as an older Black gay man living with HIV. But his story would not mirror those of his friends whom he laid to rest, instead, it would become the impetus he needed to co-create “ The Silver Lining Project,” a group that would impact his life and the lives of Black gay men living with HIV, particularly those over 50 who are often rendered invisible in the broader Black gay community. It would be another eight years, in 1997, before Reid would learn that he acquired HIV.