3:12
- culture
- May 19, 2021
Billy Porter announces he's living with HIV
"This is what HIV-positive looks like."
3:12
In that reflection, and after undergoing \"trauma therapy,\" he decided to call his mom. She was shocked -- but not for the reason he expected.
\"'You've been carrying this around for 14 years?'\" he recalled her chiding him. \"'Don't ever do this again. I'm your mother, I love you no matter what.'\"
Porter explained of that moment, \"I feel my heart releasing. It had felt like a hand was holding my heart clenched for years -- for years -- and it’s all gone. And it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Every single solitary dream that I ever had is coming true in this moment, all at the same time.\"
Porter, who said he's the healthiest he's ever been in his life, triumphantly declares, \"This is what HIV-positive looks like.\"
He added, \"It’s not the only thing I am. I’m so much more than that diagnosis. And if you don’t want to work with me because of my status, you’re not worthy of me.\"
+Life Media, an organization dedicated to eliminating the stigma around HIV, called Porter's decision to share his story about living with HIV \"immeasurably important.\"
\"His bravery advances the conversation, moving one step closer to eliminating the stigma related to the disease and informing about the facts such as undetectable equals untransmittable,\" co-founder Karl Schmid said in a statement. \"Most impactfully, Billy is deeply inspirational in showing how one can live a full and rewarding life after a positive diagnosis.\"
GLAAD's DaShawn Usher, the organization's associate director for communities of color, called Porter's decision to open up about his HIV \"powerful\" and an example to \"the world that HIV is not at all a barrier to a healthy and successful life.\"
Additionally, Usher called this a \"wake-up call for media and the general public that it's time to end the stigma that people living with HIV face and to educate each other about HIV prevention and treatment.\"
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