PORTLAND, Maine — A group dedicated to support Maine's transgender population held a free HIV testing event ahead of Thursday's national day of awareness.
Wednesday afternoon, the Frannie Peabody Center partnered with Maine TransNet to offer free, low-barrier testing.
The groups also want to promote prevention and treatment efforts.
People could walk in and get tested, with members of the trans community on site acting as trans-ambassadors.
"Just about two-thirds of the entire trans community in America have not been tested for HIV and a lot of those reasons are surrounding the stigma of trans bodies and people not feeling comfortable talking about these topics, and not feeling comfortable going to an organization that they don't know very well to have these tests done or to talk about the tests," said Charlie Johnson, Equality Maine Southern Maine Co-chair.
The CDC has a locator on its website for people to find locations to get tested.
