GLAAD reported on Thursday that most Americans say they have not seen stories about people living with HIV in the media.
In its sixth annual State of HIV Stigma report, GLAAD says, “72% of Americans report they have not seen stories featuring real people living with HIV in the media over the past 12 months, an increase from 66% in 2024.”
“When the public sees people living with HIV lead long and successful lives, it helps inspire comfort with HIV testing and treatment,” the report reads, in part.
The study found that 70% of Americans have not seen any depictions of people living with HIV in television or film over the past year (up from 65% in 2024 and 61% in 2023). According to GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV data, only one LGBTQ character living with HIV appeared during the 2024–2025 television season, and that character is not returning.
Out of 225 major studio films analyzed from 10 top distributors, only one film, “Fairyland,” featured a character living with HIV, and was set in the early days of the epidemic. “Instead of reflecting modern realities of living with HIV as a treatable, preventable condition,” the report said.
Just 0.09% of podcast episodes analyzed mentioned HIV in the past year. Only 15% of Americans report seeing a story about someone living with HIV on social media in the past year.
“Americans need accurate information, authentic stories and policies that reflect today’s realities about living with HIV and the huge advancements in prevention and treatment,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This report should be a call to action for media, public health leaders, policymakers and advocates to ensure that the way we talk about HIV catches up with what science has already made possible. Ending HIV will require all of us to choose truth over misinformation, visibility over silence and facts over fear.”
According to HIV.gov, approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV. 13% of them do not know it, reinforcing the continued need for HIV testing as well as the necessity of ending stigma around HIV, GLAAD said.
Other findings include: 79% of Americans recognize that people living with HIV experience stigma and discrimination, 77% recognize stigma can discourage testing for HIV and 73% recognize stigma discourages seeking treatment for HIV.
Treating HIV can suppress the virus to the point where it is no longer detected. Sadly, 44% of Americans don’t believe that when the virus is undetected, it is not sexually transmittable – commonly known as Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U).
GLAAD’s State of HIV Stigma report was created in partnership with Gilead Sciences and produced by the GLAAD Media Institute, GLAAD’s training, research and consulting division. GLAAD and Gilead Sciences have partnered since 2019 on programming to reduce HIV stigma and understand trends related to HIV education.
For the full State of HIV Stigma report, go to glaad.org.
