Kevin Ponthier & Robert Maciel

Alexandria, Louisiana

WHERE WILL I FIND LOVE
Kevin: “It’s been 13 years since we met at the Paper Moon Club in San Antonio. It was some enchanted evening. You don’t have to look far to find someone -- we’d both been going there for years. You just have to be open to it.”

GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Kevin: “I had just tested positive, and then soon after we got together Robert tested positive, too. We had to wonder: Had he just recently seroconverted, or had I infected him? We decided it didn’t matter -- the problem was starting a new relationship and learning to deal with our status at the same time.”

MAKE IT LAST FOREVER
Robert: “Love takes a lot of patience and compromise. It takes the ability to accept each other as individuals while nurturing our commitment to live as one.”

VIVE LA DIFFERENCE
Robert: “I treasure my heritage, which is different from Kevin’s. Maybe one reason we’ve lasted so long is I say things in Spanish when Kevin is acting clueless and I’m frustrated. He doesn’t understand what I’m saying, so I can let off steam harmlessly.”

Kevin: “Heck, half the time I think he’s giving me a compliment.”

TRY A LITTLE TOGETHERNESS
Kevin: “We always make time to be together. Everyone in the state knows us from our work with AIDS groups -- they know ’Kevin and Robert’ but they don’t know which is which.”