Lee Storrow

Chapel Hill, NC

As the Executive Director of NC AIDS Action Network (NCAAN), Lee Storrow regularly hears heartbreaking stories of discrimination from North Carolinians living with HIV and AIDS. He knows all too well the realities of HIV stigma and the way they can shape one’s access to community, employment and healthcare.

“My work as an advocate for people living with HIV puts me at the center of LGBTQ health and rights advocacy because many people living with HIV identify as LGBTQ,” he said. “New cases of HIV are disproportionately concentrated in the south, and many are in North Carolina. Many of those North Carolinians living with HIV are LGBTQ, black, or Latinx. Increasingly, many are youth, regardless of their sexual orientation. Everyone deserves access to accurate information and proper treatment. And we owe it to our community to break down stigma and ban discrimination that would threaten that.”

The era of COVID-19 makes protection from discrimination even more important for HIV-positive LGBTQ folks, who could lose access to healthcare if lose their job. Without healthcare, many of these folks would no longer be able to receive the lifesaving treatments and drugs needed to enjoy a healthy life while living with HIV.

“As our country’s unemployment numbers rise to historic heights during this pandemic, it’s critical that no one should be subject job discrimination because of who they are or who they love, or their gender identity,” Storrow said. “This is especially troubling in states like North Carolina where statewide protections do not exist.”

Join Lee in calling for statewide action on LGBTQ protections by clicking here and sending a message to your elected officials in the North Carolina General Assembly.