Liberal Judaism Chair Ruth Seager and her family have joined people around the UK to give HIV the finger and support National HIV Testing Week. Below Ruth writes passionately about why testing is so important:

HIV and AIDS burst into my life in the late 1980s. We began to hear about swathes of gay men becoming ill and dying. It was horrifying. No-one knew what was causing it, how it was transmitted, nor if it was lurking somewhere in our bodies, dormant and waiting to get us. There was no cure.

When we learned about the difference between HIV infection and AIDS the transition from one to the next still seemed inevitable. It was just a matter of time.

At work, I remember a couple of gay colleagues who became infected and then succumbed to every bug going. They became thin and eventually we didn’t see them anymore. They couldn’t face the germ-laden commute to work.

One told me of the counselling he was having before receiving the results of his test. When he had the positive result, he explained that it didn’t feel like a death sentence and I don’t think either of us believed that.

Soon, we knew, at least in our heads, that HIV was transmitted sexually and you couldn’t catch it by shaking hands with an infected person. We were told that, almost certainly, it couldn’t be transmitted through saliva because viral loads were low. I tried to hide my alarm, nonetheless, when the spit from an infected colleague fell on my face.

In 1990, my first baby was born. The gay community was being blamed for AIDS and was viewed with some fear- being made to feel unwelcome and excluded.

My sister, who is lesbian, suggested that we go, with Joshua, to the London Lighthouse for lunch. It was a centre for HIV/ AIDS support with a rather nice café. My new son was the most precious thing I had ever set eyes on, but I knew, intellectually, that it was perfectly safe. I got over myself and we went to lunch.

I was such a new mother that I was wearing a dry clean only skirt and when I put him down on a seat, he fell off because he was too young to balance. Someone stepped in to help, and Joshua was whisked away, passed around, and immersed in a veritable festival of smiling faces, too young to be afraid of people he didn’t know.

I had time for a conversation with my sister, lunch was really very good, Joshua was happy, and I think the gesture was noted.

The fear of HIV has remained but things are very different now. We know that catching HIV is nothing more than a matter of bad luck and that it can spread through communities regardless of anyone’s sexuality.

Most importantly, we now have tests readily available, and drugs that can both stop HIV progressing and stop it being transmitted to others. We have the means to eliminate HIV and thus AIDS in five years.

There is no higher mitzvah than that of saving lives. As the lay leader of a religious organisation and as a mother, you will understand why I am so keen on HIV testing.

Click here to get your free HIV test.