Excerpt from Dr. Elizabeth Boskey, PhD ‘Learning Out loud’:

It may seem strange that, in some ways, my role model for sexual health is a man who died of AIDS. The thing is, that Michael helped me learn that liking yourself is the first stem to making smart choices, protecting yourself, and feeling empowered to practice safe sex. He helped me understand that for so many people, these things are hard, and that one of the best things I could do was try and make it a little easier.

These days, I mostly do it by writing and talking about sexually transmitted diseases. It’s not the same as being a peer educator. I don’t think I’m ever going to get another 2 a.m. phone call like the one I got my first year in graduate school – where a college friend woke me up to tell me that, because she knew me, she had just turned down what would have surely been very hot sex with the lead singer in her favorite band after they discovered that neither one of them had a condom (apparently convenience stores in Western Illinois close too early for late night shopping. Who knew?) I was so proud.

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