Testing Together, now under way in Chicago and Atlanta, Georgia, takes an unusual approach: It encourages gay male couples to get tested together and hear their results together. After delivering the results, a counselor talks with the couple about what to do next, including agreements they may want to make with each other about sex and health.

“When he got here he was very disappointed that there were no services at all and he had a dream to change that,” said Butch McKay, who now, 20 years later, directs an organization that fulfills that dream — the Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Service (OASIS) center in Fort Walton Beach. The center received its nonprofit status Oct. 3, 1991, after a small band of volunteers, including Neal’s mother Carmelita, started meeting regularly. “The first office was Carmelita’s trunk, then it moved to the kitchen,” McKay said. St. Simon’s on the Sound Episcopal Church later let the group move into its first real office space.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood, OH celebrated 40 years of service provided by The Free Clinic. This important organization provides HIV services, medical, dental, substance abuse treatment, and mental health services to the medically underserved.

A qualitative study conducted with people who have tested HIV-positive but never had HIV medical care in the United States has found that many of these individuals had poor experiences with testing, counselling and referral services. Health professionals were not always perceived to be compassionate, helpful or available, researchers from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) report in the June issue of AIDS Education and Prevention. Most of the participants were poor and often had no health insurance. Interviewees felt that the structural barriers to accessing healthcare were considerable.

A great example of how Episcopal churches can include HIV testing in their events: “FAMILIA, SALUD Y VIDA” HEALTH AND WELLNESS FESTIVAL St. Anna’s Episcopal Church and Oportunidades NOLA would like to invite the community to join us for our second annual bi-lingual “Familia, Salud y Vida” Health and Wellness Festival, to be held on Sunday, June 5, from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. Our Festival will promote healthy lifestyle choices and celebrate the culture and diversity of our city. Free services include blood pressure and diabetes screenings, HIV testing, acupuncture and massage, hurricane preparation, food stamps and Medicaid information and much much more!

Patients with H.I.V. were 96 percent less likely to pass on the infection if they were taking antiretroviral drugs — a finding that is so overwhelming that it is likely to change the way American AIDS doctors treat patients and what treatment policies are adopted by the World Health Organization and other countries, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which paid for the trial.

St. Mark's Cheyenne [was] once again a sponsor for the AIDS Walk in Cheyenne. Registration begins 9.30 a.m.on MAY 7th, 2011.

While AIDS continues to infect and kill people -- the U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that more than 18,000 people with AIDS die annually in the United States and an estimated 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV each year -- perceptions, treatment and the demographics of the disease have changed since the 1980s. The church's awareness of and response to AIDS have changed along with them, with some Episcopal ministries growing and evolving, others dwindling. Yet the need remains, advocates say.

Retired Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, an outspoken activist for human rights and equality in Uganda, delivered a presentation at the United Nations in New York on April 8 calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality as a way to make progress in the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The NAACP issues a call to action to the faith community to champion the importance of HIV testing and prevention in their respective congregations and communities.

What does love got to do with HIV/AIDS? Let's look at some common reasons why, supposedly in the name of love, we don't protect ourselves against HIV. Why don’t we ask our partners about their HIV status? ''Because I love him,'' or ''because she loves me,'' people often say. Why don’t we use condoms? ''Because I love him (or her).''