Kenny Patrick and I go back to 1983.
We were young when we met, life pulled us in different directions, and then a few years ago we reconnected. Getting to know them now, I’ve discovered someone that I truly love spending time with.
In this episode of A Queer POV, Kenny talks about living with HIV since they were 21. About nearly 28 years of sobriety, a relapse in June of 2025, and getting sober again. About identifying as non-binary after 50 years of calling themselves male, and what it took to finally examine why that never fit. About trauma, about community, about forgiveness that has nothing to do with the other person.
In August of 1986 Kenny was told they had four months to live. They had just turned 21. The doctor looked at the numbers, looked at how Kenny described living, and said four months. That was it.
Their only response? All my friends get six months. Why do I only get four months?
The dark humor. The defiance. The refusal to collapse even in the worst moment.
At 21 Kenny thought they deserved to die. Not as a passing dark thought, but at their core. Because of things said to them as a child, because of how the gay community was treated, because of how the HIV community was treated.
“I’m not just a punchline,” they said. “I’m part of like Hitler’s final solution. Let’s wipe this group out.”
And they believed it.
This episode covers a lot of ground: HIV, sobriety, non-binary identity, and radical survival.
You can find A Queer POV wherever you listen to podcasts. If this episode moved you, please share it. Leave a review. Send it to someone who needs it.
And as always, be bold, be free, and most of all, be you.
-David
A Queer POV: Friends, Loves, & Life with David
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