Significant progress has been made in the fight against AIDS in the 40 years since the first cases of the disease were diagnosed in the U.S. But the early days of the epidemic were a much different time, filled with fear and marginalization. Frank DiLella talked to two survivors to hear their stories as NY1's coverage of Pride month continues.

Roscoe Boyd: “I’m HIV positive, undetectable. I’ve been positive since 2001."

Mark Milano: “I was diagnosed with AIDS back in April of 1982, so I was probably infected I think the year earlier, so right around the time the CDC announced the epidemic."

Boyd: “I discovered I was HIV positive when I went to the clinic in Atlanta. I was a student at Morehouse College and something wasn’t quite right. But it was something that was really life-changing for me.”

Milano: “It was tough (in the early days of the epidemic) because people would get diagnosed and die very quickly. It was very fast. A lot of my friends, when they got their diagnosis, they decided to party ‘til the end. They moved to South Beach, they emptied their bank accounts, they ran up their credit cards and they literally partied until they died.”

Boyd: “Well, I grew up in the church, so for me, when I came out at 18 to my mother, one of the things she said was, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’ And that was a little hard to accept, but it was true. It was not something that I could discuss. My mother, who is a nurse, I wouldn’t even discuss it with her.”

Milano: “Not only were we dying and were we losing our friends left and right, we were treated like trash. It’s like an invisible war where all your friends are dying but nobody seems to care.”

What words of advice do these two survivors give to people who have been recently diagnosed with the disease?

Milano: “Generally, what I say is, ‘Look at me, you know? I’m 65, I’ve been living with HIV for 40 years, I work a full-time job, I still work out, I have an active social life.' It is possible to thrive with this illness, especially now with the new medications."

Boyd: “If someone told me today that they are HIV positive, I would say, 'Welcome to the rest of your life. You have all the resources and tools available for you to live a happy, healthy and whole life.' That no matter what anyone says to you, you are perfect, you are fine, you’re going to be OK.”