SM: Can you understand why someone wouldn’t want to date a person who is HIV positive?
Marvelyn: No. I feel like HIV is not an adjective. It does not define a person. If a person wants to be with you, they don’t care about all that because that’s not the priority.

SM: But what about people who think they would be putting themselves more at risk?
Marvelyn: I don’t think they were minimizing the risk before. What if they didn’t know? You don’t know too many people who are getting HIV tests together and even when they do, they’re not in the same room together. You don’t know each other’s test results. My thing is be more responsible [with] whoever you’re with. Take responsibility for yourself.


Marvelyn at NAACP Awards

SM: You’ve talked about dating HIV positive and negative men. What’s it like to date each one?
Marvelyn: Someone who’s HIV positive [is] usually more understanding, [but] some are not at my level where they wouldn’t have told their mom yet or something. Also, I don’t want to deal with [HIV] 24/7. I don’t want to be 50 years old and be like ‘baby, you’re taking your medicine?’ And HIV positive men, they feel like they don’t have to use protection. You can re-infect yourself with HIV, which will make the virus grow in your body and get stronger, and usually leads you to AIDS a lot quicker.*