Former Florida Democratic Party state chairmanĀ Bob PoeĀ revealed Thursday that he’s HIV-positive.
The 61-year-old Democrat says inĀ a video that he’s healthyĀ because he got tested and diagnosed early, but he wanted to share his condition publicly to “remove the fear, the stigma and the shame that goes with this.”
“It’s those things that keep people from getting the diagnosis and the treatment that they need to live perfectly healthy lives like I have,” he says. “I have a motto in my life: If you want to make a difference, you have to be the difference. And so today, I’m trying to be that difference in this community so that we can begin to solve this problem once and forever.”
Poe is running in a very competitive primary for Florida’s 10th Congressional District seat (the seat currently held by Republican Daniel Webster but which because of redistricting is much more Democratic-friendly). He’s running againstĀ Orlando state Senator Geraldine Thompson, former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings and attorney Fatima Fahey.Ā If elected, Poe would be theĀ first openly HIV-positive person elected to Congress.
According toĀ Watermark, there have been only a handful of HIV-positive elected officials on any level, including fewer than a half-dozen state legislators. The rest filled municipal positions. Most were elected before disclosing their status.
Not Poe. Not now.
It’s a courageousĀ move,Ā because you better believe that having anĀ HIV-positiveĀ status is still stigmatizing in our society, as much as it has progressed since the virus was first diagnosed back in the 1980s.
Poe said the moment he realized that he had to come clean about his own health was when he met a black woman on the campaign trail recently who told him she had recently tested positive for HIV, didnāt have health insurance, and didnāt know where to go or what to do.
āI just wanted to hug her and tell her that she wasnāt alone, that Iām HIV and that Iām happy and healthy and she will be too. But I couldnāt,ā Poe recalls, shaking his head. āI couldnāt in that moment.Ā Afterward,Ā it became clear to me. I have an obligation to do this if Iām going to be a public servant. Thereās no one else inĀ electiveĀ office, that I know of at least, with the same opportunity to talk about [HIV] from a personal perspective. My encounter with that woman, who was just looking for reassurance, took me over the edge.ā
NobodyĀ will truly be able to know whether this revelation will be damaging to Poe until the Aug. 30 primary. But you have to believe that by revealing a secret he’s harbored for 18 years, he’s already achieved a victory of sorts.
In otherĀ news ā¦
Hillsborough County Commissioners have put the finalĀ nail in the coffin in the Go Hillsborough transportation proposal. While the county may ultimately find a way to find funding for transportation in this year’s budget, it won’t be via a sales tax.
We’re 12 days away from the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning organization takingĀ a big vote on the Tampa Bay Express project, and Rick Homans with the Tampa BayĀ Partnership,Ā is expressing concern. The group is one of more than two dozen who are part of the TBX Yes coalition that wants the proposal to go forward.
HD 68 Democratic hopefulĀ Ben DiamondĀ raised over $100,000 last month.
The Andrew Warren campaign is crowing once again that they raised more money in a single month than his GOP incumbent opponent, Mark Ober.
And Pinellas County’s Chris Sprowls gets a Democratic Party challenger in his bid for re-election to HD 65.
CD 11 Congressional hopefulĀ Daniel WebsterĀ is going on TV with his first paid ad of the cycle.
