HIV/AIDS LONG-TERM SURVIVOR * YOUTH EDUCATION * ADVOCACY * ACTIVISM * RESOURCES
Houston, Texas - United States
It’s Not Who You Are, It’s What You Do that puts you at risk
Knowledge is Power
It’s Not Who You Are, It’s What You Do That Puts You at Risk for HIV
I first started using this phrase in 2004, when I began speaking full-time in schools in Madison, Wisconsin. I can still remember scribbling it out with a pencil one night. Maybe I’d picked it up through the grapevine over the years — activism has a way of spreading ideas — but I know this: from the moment I said it out loud, it became part of my DNA.
As a heterosexual man living with HIV, I needed a way to break the heavy stigma and shatter the myth that HIV was a “gay disease.” This phrase was my answer. Simple, direct, and true: It’s not who you are, it’s what you do that puts you at risk for HIV.
When I first started speaking in schools, I learned fast that blunt honesty worked better than any lecture. I’d kick things off with:
“Sit down and get ready, y’all. This isn’t gonna be your Grandma’s presentation on HIV/AIDS.”
These kids didn’t need sugarcoating; they needed the truth laid bare. And the staff loved that about me too. They appreciated that I wasn’t there to play it safe — I was there to reach hearts and minds.
U = U
Undetectable = Untransmittable
Undetectable = Untransmittable scientific consensus, which means a person living with HIV who is on antiretroviral treatment (ART) and has a sustained undetectable viral load cannot transmit the virus to sexual partners. This groundbreaking message, championed by organizations like the Prevention Access Campaign, is a critical tool for preventing new HIV transmissions, reducing stigma, and empowering people living with HIV.
U=U is a form of Treatment as Prevention (TasP), a highly effective biomedical approach to preventing HIV.
Local organizations, such as Pride Community Center and Allies in Hope | Houston, support and promote U=U initiatives in Texas.
U=U - Long-term HIV/AIDS survivor Bob Bowers
Texas health and human services
HIV and STD Testing in Texas
The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) HIV/STD Program has the duty to identify, report, prevent, and control HIV, AIDS, and STDs in the State of Texas.
HIV and STD Services in Texas
Many organizations in Texas provide HIV and STD services including medical care, treatment, and support.
straight men living with hiv/aids
📢 EDUCATING WHILE SLAYING STIGMA
What You Think You Know About HIV Is Wrong — Meet a Straight Long-Term Survivor Who’s Lived It All
Exercise living with hiv/aids
Strength is survival. My workouts are more than fitness — they’re a message: You can live a full, fired-up life with HIV.
HIV long-term survivor Bob bowers
Over four decades living with HIV — and still riding strong. I’m not just surviving, I’m showing up, breaking stereotypes, and shifting gears in the fight against stigma.
AGING with hiv/aids and thriving
Aging with HIV/AIDS and Thriving
Aging with HIV isn’t something many of us thought we’d live to see. In the early days, survival past five years was a miracle—let alone four decades. But here I stand, gray hair and all, living proof that life doesn’t end with a diagnosis. It evolves. The fight changes as the body changes, but the mission remains the same: to show the world that long-term HIV survivors can age, thrive, and carry wisdom forward.
For me, thriving means more than just living longer with HIV—it means smashing stereotypes about what growing older with HIV looks like. It’s about choosing resilience, about taking care of the body, mind, and spirit, and about letting gratitude shine through every smile and scar. I’m blessed to still be here, and I wear that blessing with pride. Thriving with HIV/AIDS isn’t just possible—it’s powerful.
That’s why HIV and aging awareness is so important. The more we share our stories, the more we remind the world that people living with HIV are not only surviving, we’re aging, we’re thriving, and we’re refusing to be written off.
hiv is not a crime!
Why is HIV Criminalization an Issue?
The Laws do not Reflect the Science: HIV Criminalization laws began in Washington State, Florida, and Tennessee in 1986 when not much was known about HIV and AIDS and the fear and hysteria about the virus was at its peak due to the lack of knowledge about it. They were created by Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency Act of 1990. The act offered federal funds to states if they criminalized the act of spreading HIV and many states complied and created HIV Criminalization laws to obtain federal funding for their HIV and AIDS programs. Many of these laws are still on the books for many states and reflect the fear and lack of knowledge that the world possessed about HIV at the time.
Criminalize hate, not HIV. Click to learn more at HIV Life.
How i value life
Why is it important to use preferred language?
Language regarding HIV can either empower or stigmatize a person living with HIV. Although a term may be correct or clinically accurate, it can also negatively impact a person's self-worth and confidence. Over the years, there have been growing concerns with the stigma attached to these terms. It is important to use preferred language in order empower people living with HIV and reduce stigma around HIV.
Words matter!
The provided guide was created for and by People Living with HIV in order to address stigma related to HIV/AIDS.
coming soon!
The True Tale of One Tough Pirate
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate
"You call him One Tough Pirate. The man. The myth. The absolute badass. Bob Bowers isn’t just a survivor—he’s a force. A walking, talking, tattooed sermon. His story doesn’t quietly ask for your attention. It grabs you by the soul and demands you sit up, shut up, and listen."
The True Tale of One Tough Pirate - Bob Bowers' life story
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate
"I don’t preach from pulpits. My sermons are sidewalk-born. Sometimes they start with a compliment about my ride, and end with a grieving stranger in tears over a brother lost to AIDS. That’s how it happens. Every. Damn. Time. Not because I go looking—but because I am looking. For connection. For meaning. For redemption. I don’t hunt down the hurting—I am the hurting. I just happen to be loud, tattooed, and too stubborn to shut up."
The Gospel According to One Tough Pirate - Bob Bowers' documentary/docuseries
Texas health and human services
HIV and STD Information
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). STDs are sexually transmitted diseases, which include HIV and other infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, syphilis, and HPV.|
HIV and other STDs are often contracted through sexual contact (vaginal, anal, or oral sex). Many infections are also passed through sharing needles, contact with infected blood, or from mother to baby during pregnancy or birth. HIV and other STDs are not passed casually through things like hugging or shaking hands. Each infection is different.
Knowledge is power!
Allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS
HIV long-term survivor bob bowers
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
Youth HIV/AIDS educator Bob Bowers with La Follette High School students after delivering his message of compassion, knowledge, and real-life HIV prevention.
The True Tale of One Tough Pirate
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
Bob Bowers—HIV/AIDS activist, speaker, and author—shares his raw, unfiltered life story in The True Tale of One Tough Pirate, a journey of survival, purpose, and truth.
HIV/AIDS and Aging
HIVictorious, Inc. - Youth HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS and Aging
Long-term HIV/AIDS survivor Bob Bowers continues breaking stigma and redefining aging with HIV—42+ years strong and still raising hell with heart.
