Misinformation, discomfort and a shortage of current, affirming stories continue to fuel stigma
While HIV treatment and prevention have advanced over the decades, public perception of people living with HIV often remains stuck in the 1980s—and HIV-related stigma is still a major problem.
Those are among the findings of GLAAD’s 2026 State of HIV Stigma report, based on a 2025 online survey of 2,500 U.S. adults plus nine focus groups. Respondents recognized that HIV is stigmatized, but many of them didn’t have accurate information about the subject—they expressed disbelief about “Undetectable = Untransmittable” and said they felt discomfort around people living with the virus.
Lack of representation in news and entertainment media is one reason. Of 225 films released by the top 10 distributors in 2025, only one, “Fairyland,” included a character living with HIV, and it was set in the ’80s, with the character eventually dying of AIDS complications.
“You only have one story that’s actually depicting people living with HIV, [set in a time when] that was a death sentence,” said Jerrell Hardnett, lead author of the report and director of education and advocacy at GLAAD. “You don’t have stories that are portraying people living and thriving with HIV today.”
Of the podcast episodes from 2025 analyzed by GLAAD, just 0.09% mentioned HIV. Only 15% of respondents reported seeing a social media story about someone living with HIV. Some 72% said they had not seen news stories about people living with HIV in 2025—up from 66% in 2024—and 70% had not seen any depictions of people living with HIV in television or film, up from 65% in 2024 and 61% in 2023. Just one LGBTQ+ character living with HIV was portrayed on television during the 2024–2025 season, GLAAD noted in its Where We Are on TV report, and the character won’t be back.
Young people don’t feel knowledgeable about HIV, according to the report. Among members of Generation Z, generally considered to be those born between 1997 and 2012, just 31% said they feel knowledgeable about the virus, down from 38% the previous year. The decline “was really interesting to me, and the reason why is when you think about a generation that has access to everything, they just don’t know how to actually obtain or hear the information,” Hardnett said. This is even though Gen Z is the most out LGBTQ+ generation in history—more than 20% identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup.
In contrast, 49% of all respondents said they feel knowledgeable about HIV (down from 50% in 2024), as did 49% of Baby Boomers, 60% of Generation X and 49% of Millennials.
Still, 44% across all ages said they disagreed with the scientifically factual statement that someone living with HIV whose treatment has rendered the virus undetectable cannot transmit it through sex. “Undetectable = Untransmittable” has been recognized science for over 10 years.
What’s more, the percentage of respondents saying they feel comfortable around a family member or medical professional who is living with HIV decreased from 2024 to 2025.
Even as most Americans say HIV stigma remains an issue, actual comfort interacting with someone living with HIV ranges across a variety of scenarios. At the high end, 61% report being comfortable interacting with someone living with HIV at their place of worship, while just 46% say they are comfortable interacting with a partner living with HIV. Notably, reported comfort interacting with people living with HIV has declined across all areas of daily life GLAAD tested, including relationships with coworkers, family members, and healthcare providers. This points to a disconnect between general awareness of stigma and how people actually feel and behave.
Most respondents were aware that stigma is attached to HIV, with 79% saying people living with HIV experience stigma and discrimination, and almost as many saying stigma discourages testing and treatment. Of those surveyed, 77% agreed that stigma can be a barrier for people to get an HIV test; 73% said stigma can discourage a person living with HIV from getting treatment.
More—and more accurate—depictions in dramatized media would help raise awareness and reduce stigma, Hardnett said. Having lived with HIV for 10 years, he pointed out that films or TV programs could portray someone who is living with the virus without the story centering on it. Or there could be a Hallmark Christmas or Thanksgiving movie about someone who brings a partner living with HIV home for the holidays and educates their family in the process, added Barbara Simon, GLAAD’s head of news and campaigns.
More resources for HIV services organizations would also help, Hardnett said, noting that the Trump administration has canceled about $600 million in HIV and STI prevention grants. “So we’re losing the peer-to-peer opportunities to help educate the youth,” he said.
GLAAD is getting the word about HIV and scientific reality out in several ways, he said, such as visits to schools in the rural South, a media training around HIV and the Black Queer Creative Summit.
The organization also recently held an intergenerational conversation about HIV at ArtsXchange, a Black cultural community hub in East Point, a suburb of Atlanta. Some young participants said they didn’t get accurate information about HIV in school, while older ones recalled the shame placed on people living with HIV in the ’80s and ’90s—nothing that there is still stigma attached.
The event showed how important it is to have these conversations, Hardnett said. “We know that people’s understanding of HIV is shaped by when and how they first learned about it,” he said. “Creating spaces where generations can talk openly, share experiences, ask questions and learn from one another is another important way we build understanding and ultimately reduce HIV stigma.”