CrescentCare Health Board of Trustees, Black AIDS Institute, The Well Projects
Gina M. Brown (born January 15, 1966) is an American HIV/AIDS activist and social worker.[1] After experiencing childhood trauma and overcoming a drug addiction, Brown was diagnosed with HIV in 1994.[2] Upon her diagnosis, she became a social worker to raise awareness about the disease and remove stigma from HIV-positive people and people of color. Brown previously served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and works towards decriminalizing HIV in the Southern United States.[3]
Gina Brown was born on January 15, 1966 in Pittsburg, California.[4] When she was four years old, her family moved to New Orleans. There, she suffered sexual abuse from a cousin. As a teenager, Brown felt pressure to sleep with older men and fell into drug addiction.[4]
Diagnosis
In 1994, while pregnant with a daughter, Brown learned she was HIV-positive. It was two years after she had become clean from drugs.[5] At the time of her diagnosis, she was certain she would die and felt stigma from some medical professionals throughout her pregnancy.[4] Others started her on AZT medical study, and her daughter was born HIV-negative.[6]
Higher education
In 2005, Brown first told her story of living with HIV to a local newspaper in Dallas, Texas where she was living at the time.[7] After the interview, Brown was encouraged by feedback from women throughout the state who told her that her story inspired them to seek treatment.[4] Brown realized the health consequences that shame and self-isolation had on HIV-positive women in the South.[8][9] The reception encouraged Brown to enroll in a course for social work, in an effort to help more women living with HIV. Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work from the Southern University at New Orleans in 2011, and earned a Master's degree in Social Work in 2012.[10]
Advocacy
Gina Brown (far left) at a roundtable at the 2016 U.S. Conference on AIDS in Hollywood, Florida.
After graduation, Brown worked as an organizer for several advocacy organizations, including AIDS United and the Southern AIDS Coalition.[11] Brown's social work highlights the roles of stigma, trauma and medical outcomes when it comes to HIV care.[12] In Louisiana, where Brown lives, HIV transmission is criminalized.[13] Brown's work highlights how these laws prevent HIV positive people from being open about their diagnoses, and seeking care.[14] Brown was later appointed to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) [5] as well as other boards related to confronting HIV and the stigma surrounding it in the South.[15][10][16]
PACHA resignation
In 2017, Brown resigned from her role on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS with five other members in protest over the Trump administration's approach to HIV policy.[17][18] In December 2017, President Trump fired the remaining members of the council.[19]
In 2018, Brown publicly disclosed she was bisexual, in an effort to remove stigma and encourage LGBTQ+ women to be open about their HIV status.[4]
Later career
In 2019, Brown commemorated the 25th anniversary of her HIV diagnosis.[20] Through treatment by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, HIV is no longer detectable in her blood.[21][22] Today, Brown continues to work as a community manager for HIV and AIDS related epidemic planning.[23][5][24]
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