September 26, 2016 - POZ.
By Casey Halter
Arianna Lint—a transgender Latina refugee living with HIV—has worked as a legal consultant, political activist, sex worker, health worker, case manager and immigration reformer since coming to the United States about 15 years ago.
Lint, 43, is from Peru, where she graduated from law school. She was involved in political and civil rights activism and policy work in her native country throughout the 1990s, until threats against her forced her to leave.
Lint's immigration has not been easy. "My 'withholding of removal' status doesn't give me a chance to become a resident or a citizen," she explains. That court order allows her to stay based on a high chance of persecution if she returns to Peru. "So every year, I have to renew my work permit. I cannot leave the country or access many services."
In 2006, Lint tested HIV positive. She was living in Orlando, Florida, at the time, after a brief stint in New York City. At first, Lint lived in silence, thinking of her diagnosis as a sort of "divine punishment" for who she was.
However, through educating herself about HIV, Lint learned to shed the self-stigma she felt and became determined to live out loud. Continue reading…
