JD Davids (he/him) is a chronically ill and disabled writer, storyteller and strategist with decades of work in world-changing social movements, policy advocacy and sexual liberation.
Most recently, he founded and co-directed the national Long COVID Justice project. He currently is a MA candidate in Biography and Memoir program at CUNY Graduate Center.
He identified as an “illder” -- a term he coined to represent those mentoring each other in confronting chronic illnesses and an ableist society alike – who is committed to sharing movement history, health information and unique approaches to living with illness.
In this time of mass disabling pandemics, he shares stories and strategies through The Cranky Queer Guide to Chronic Illness, where he braids his experiences as a longtime HIV and disability justice activist, research advocate, and life as a queer and transgender parent, harm reductionist and sexual liberationist.
Davids has provided perspectives on HIV, LGBTQ health, COVID-19 and Long COVID for AP, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Nation, The New York Times, NPR, Stat, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and many other media outlets.
His recent and upcoming publications include authored or co-authored chapters for The Long COVID Survival Guide, Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements, Unfolding Corpus: Vulnerability and Radicality in Times of Plagues, and Race, Justice, and HIV: Visions for a Society Without Bars.
Primed by a dysfunctional childhood to excel in chaos, he navigated early years of alcohol, drugs, toxic masculinity and teen marriage, going on to play bass in punk bands and serving as a reporter at a local gay newspaper as the small staff was decimated by AIDS.
As a young adult, he joined ACT UP Philadelphia, helping to pull off many powerful acts of protest and civil disobedience and distributing their HIV Standard of Care, which provided lifesaving information directly to patients years before the establishment of federal guidelines.
A decade later, he was a core organizer in the global movement that slashed the cost of HIV treatment, leading to treatment access to millions worldwide, and went on to found a national advocacy network devoted to HIV prevention justice.
Today, he primarily works with national networks led by chronically ill and disabled people, and is a member of the What Would an HIV Doula Do collective bridging the arts, cultural provocation and academia.
But after a life of frequent minor illness and an increasingly painful adulthood, his body went numb in 2006; he was ultimately diagnosed with both autoimmune and immuno-suppressive conditions, including selective IgA deficiency, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). fibromyalgia and more recently, Long COVID and associated mass cell activation syndrome (MCAS).
Now, he is committed to sharing information and unique approaches to living well with illness -- driven by his passion for better, real-world information about health, sexuality and community and drawing on his training as an HIV treatment activist and research advocate -- and in crafting a queer and trans life that doesn’t fit any scripted roles.
Davids has served as an expert community advisor to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While working as a senior editor at TheBody.com, a longstanding HIV-focused digital journalism site, Davids developed a center for information on transgender health, seeking to address the need for “by trans for trans” health information.
On March 7, 2020 he coordinated the first national online gathering of people with chronic illnesses in the U.S. to share information and concerns about the approaching COVID-19 pandemic; a few days later, he posted “How to Have Sex in the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic.”
He went on to serve as a bridge between decades of HIV and chronic illness advocacy, networks of ME/CFS advocates, and the growing number of people facing Long COVID.
Photo Credit: Emily Farthing
