#TestMe on National HIV Testing Day

Today is National HIV Testing Day, first observed in 1995. Many organizations around the country are reminding their members to get tested because almost 20% of the 1.1 million Americans living with HIV do not know they are HIV+.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is here to encourage you to find out your HIV status and to remind others by Tweeting #testme.

This day comes after a groundbreaking decision from the Supreme Court last Thursday that ruled that the federal government cannot force organizations that provide care for HIV/AIDS patients to discriminate against those who work in the sex trade. Many individuals who go into sex work are transgender individuals who have very few alternative options for employment.

In the report Injustice at Every Turn, released by the Task Force in 2011, it was found that transgender people have an HIV infection rate of 2.64% which is over four times that of the general US adult population. It was also found by Fenway Health that while Black men who have sex with men only make up 1% of the US population, they do make up more than 20% of new HIV infections. We can’t let these trends continue. Take action and get yourself tested.

To find a place where you can get tested, visit this site and enter your zip code.