In 1989, Ronald Johnson did not think he would live to see old age. Johnson, a Black gay man, was diagnosed with HIV that year, during the height of the U.S. AIDS epidemic, when the life expectancy was 1 to 2 years after diagnosis.

“I just assumed that I would die,” Johnson told The 19th. “I’m from New York City, and particularly before treatments, I was seeing friends and people I know dying. Then going into the ’90s when treatments became available, and there was the struggle to get access to the treatment, dealing with managing the regimen of treatment: the number of pills that you had to take, some had to be refrigerated, some had to be taken before meals, some taken with meals. It was a challenge.” […]