Writer and food editor Tucker Shaw shared heartbreaking tweets about the friends and lovers he lost to AIDS.

A powerful thread on the oft-forgotten toll of HIV rocked LGBTQ Twitter on Monday and Tuesday.

Writer and food editor Tucker Shaw posted nearly two dozen tweets describing his experience losing friends and lovers to HIV. The thread was triggered by a conversation Shaw overheard on a train; two young men were discussing HIV, with one saying it "galvanized the gay community" and "paved the way to make things better, in the long run."

Shaw described his own experiences — read them below — and concluded by saying, "The long run. Wasn't that long ago."

LGBTQ notables were moved by Shaw's thread.