UNAIDS World AIDS Day 2023

Meet

Axel Bautista

To overcome stigma, support stigmatized people to lead

Axel Bautista

Community mobilization coordinator for MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights

Mexico

I was 21 years old when I was diagnosed with HIV a decade ago in Mexico City. I was studying sociology at university. Connecting my studies with my own experiences as a person living with HIV and as a gay man, I could see how progress on public health is obstructed when affected communities are marginalized. I realized too that we needed to get organized. I began helping a small student organization. This was my introduction to advocating for the rights of people living with HIV.

When I was finishing my studies, a friend from Colombia invited me to help with a podcast on public radio. For 15 minutes every week, we talked on the radio about HIV and LGBTQI activism in Mexico. I was able to interview many activists and organizations in Mexico. It became clear that the path forward to ensuring our health and our rights was our own activism. No one would do it for us except us.

“If there is one thing I have learned in my decade of HIV activism, it is that progress is possible only if communities lead the way.”

“It became clear that the path forward to ensuring our health and our rights was our own activism. No one would do it for us except us.”

-Axel

I joined Inspira, an LGBTQI-led organization that delivers HIV and other health services and advocates for LGBTQI rights. Mexico’s economic growth has not lifted up all Mexicans. The chasms of inequality in Mexico are reflected in our health system. These inequalities have a disproportionate effect on vulnerable communities, including LGBTQI people and people living with HIV. Only solutions designed by marginalized communities can address the inequalities they face.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico experienced an acute shortage of HIV medicines. This shortage threatened my own health and well-being and that of my community. We were the people who understood this first, because it was about us. And we were the ones who ensured it was addressed. We mobilized our community and took to the streets in Mexico City to demand Government action to close the access gap. We found champions in Congress who helped us find solutions to the problem.

I’m still learning how to be an effective HIV activist and LGBT community mobilizer.

Even as I appreciate the openness of people in the movement to my ideas, I also know I need guidance and support from people with more experience. I am so grateful for the many people who have invested in me as a community leader by helping show me the way.

Community-led HIV and LGBT activism and programme design is vital to counter homophobia, serophobia, misogyny and racism. Reaching and mobilizing our communities requires that we speak in the language of the community – the same slang, the same cultural references, the same shared experiences.

This also means we need to keep changing as new generations emerge.

I am a millennial, but what has worked for people of my generation is not going to be the most effective way for younger generations. We need to make space to hear the voices of the new generation.

Today, I am working as the community mobilization coordinator at MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health & Rights. In this role, I’m trying to take the lessons I’ve learned as a community HIV activist and support other communities in increasing the visibility of gay, bi and queer men, including those who are living with HIV.

In addition to building community, my work with MPact also aims to normalize discussions of sexual diversity and sexuality. In Mexico, and in much of the world, it is still a big challenge to talk about these things. This has led many people to hide themselves. Shame, stigma, fear to be seen, are factors that drive the conditions for the HIV pandemic.

If we don’t talk about sexuality, in non-stigmatising, open, ways, people aren’t going to know the facts about HIV or be able to make informed, empowered decisions about their lives. If we are able to build acceptance and safety, we can protect everyone’s health and end this pandemic. This can’t be done for us, it has to be done by us.

“This cannot be done for us—it has to be done by us.”

next leader

Erika Castellanos

Executive Director, Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE)

Axel Bautista

Community mobilization coordinator for MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights

Mexico

“If there is one thing I have learned in my decade of HIV activism, it is that progress is possible only if communities lead the way.”

“It became clear that the path forward to ensuring our health and our rights was our own activism. No one would do it for us except us.”

I’m still learning how to be an effective HIV activist and LGBT community mobilizer.

I am a millennial, but what has worked for people of my generation is not going to be the most effective way for younger generations. We need to make space to hear the voices of the new generation.

“This cannot be done for us—it has to be done by us.”

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Erika Castellanos