Roger Beyers is not one to shy away from his HIV-positive status. In fact he shares his story to a variety of groups throughout Chicago as a way to educate people about the disease.
At 67 years old, Beyers spends his days volunteering for LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS causes at the Center on Halsted as well as shopping at flea markets, trying out different foods, keeping up with current events and starting to learn about computers.
A native of the small northeastern Wisconsin town of Amberg, Beyers was born in 1944 at the height of World War II. Describing his hometown, Beyers recalls that it was and still is like a Norman Rockwell painting, which he said gave him a limited view of the world.
That all changed when Beyers graduated from high school and went to a clown college operated by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus ( he went prior to the official opening of the Clown College, which opened in 1968 ) . After graduating, he traveled all over the world with Ringling Brothers.
Beyers' first stop was in Beijing, China in 1962 and by the time he was 20 he had traveled all over the world with the circus. This gave him a chance to see the diversity of the world. "Each place had its own unique value to me and I couldn't list a favorite place ... it was an adventure from day one until the time I left the circus," he said.
Beyers spent two years with the circus and when the troupe came to Chicago he decided to settle down and make a life for himself in the city. Taking a job at Jewel-Osco at the age of 20, Beyers worked his way up to the position of service manager over a 40-year career with the grocery store.
Along the way, Beyers had a long-term relationship of 23 years. His work colleagues always asked him about his boyfriend and included the couple in their social plans.
This wasn't the first time Beyers felt accepted as a gay man. When he was 16 his parents came to him and asked him if he was attracted to men. His parents, who grew up in small towns in Iowa ( his mom ) and Michigan ( his dad ) , told him they had no issue with his sexual orientation and also said that it was a gift. It didn't hurt that Beyers had a much older sister who had already come out as a lesbian ( she had been married to a man for a number of years and was also the mother of two children ) .
Although his long-term relationship ended at the time of his HIV diagnosis ( his former boyfriend was also diagnosed with the disease ) , he has been dating another man for the last year and a half and hopes to have a civil union at the Center on Halsted in the near future.
When Beyers was diagnosed with HIV in the summer of 2002 during a test at Howard Brown Health Center, he hit the ground running. Before he left Howard Brown that day, he asked the counselor to be referred to a good HIV specialist and a good HIV case manager as well as a referral to an HIV support group. He is still with that same HIV specialist, who became his primary care physician, and HIV case manager. However, he has moved on and is now a facilitator of HIV support groups with an number of organizations ( his original support group at Chicago House has since been disbanded ) .
Currently, Beyers takes time to speak out about HIV or HIV-related issues as a member of the Center on Halsted speakers bureau as well as through other organizations. Another way Beyers helps people is through community building. He often helps members of SAGE ( older LGBTs ) feel more comfortable at the group events. He also hopes to bridge the gap between young people and SAGE members at the Center on Halsted by helping create programming that both groups can do together so each generation can benefit from each other's knowledge and life experiences.
The Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago recently invited Beyers to address a group of student social workers on what it means to be diagnosed HIV-positive at a later age as a part of their constituent advocacy program. Beyers has also worked with student nurses at Oak Park School of Nursing on the topic of HIV. On National Coming Out Day 2011, Beyers spoke to an LGBTQ employee group at Pepsi-Cola Corporation.
"We are on the cutting edge of many of these issues and I like to think that we are making three steps forward for every one step backward regarding LGBTQ equality and HIV-AIDS research," said Beyers. "Every day of a person's life can be a challenge but those challenges can be turned into opportunities."
This story is part of the Local Reporting Initiative, supported in part by The Chicago Community Trust.
