A young woman just weeks away from marriage and distraught that she might have HIV and have passed it onto her fiance is just one of the heartbreaking situations emerging after the naming of an HIV positive man charged with knowingly exposing others to the virus. Accused: Glenn Mills HIV peer support group Body Positive Auckland has been fielding dozens of calls on its 0800 HIV LINE since Glenn Richard Albert Mills was named last Friday as the man facing multiple charges stemming from having unprotected sex with men and women since he was diagnosed HIV positive in May 2007. Spokesperson Bruce Kilmister says his team has taken almost twenty calls today alone, mostly from young men, and "all are very young people." Kilmister says the majority of calls are from worried men who have had sexual contact with Mills, but some calls are from the partners of those who have had such contact. Some of the sexual encounters date from several years before Mills was diagnosed with HIV. It is not known how long he may have had the debilitating virus before he was diagnosed. Body Positive has conducted fourteen counseling and testing sessions so far, all of which have given negative results, and has ten more booked in before Friday. Additionally, Body Positive is referring calls originating outside Auckland to the NZ AIDS Foundation offices and sexual health clinics in centres such as Wellington. The AIDS Foundation is reiterating its message that all people, regardless of sexuality, should protect themselves from contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections by using condoms. Detective Sergeant Andy King of the Auckland Adult Sexual Assault Team has been calling on people who have had sexual contact with Mills to contact him on 09 302 6400.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 - 7:40pm