Rochester, N.Y. — Action for a Better Community/Action Front Center is organizing a health screening event as part of the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day,
As part of the national I’m Ready to Know campaign to provide access to HIV testing, Western now has HIV self-testing kits available through Health and Wellness Services.
Billy Porter was diagnosed with HIV 14 years ago, but the
Pose star hadn’t shared that aspect of his life until now. In a
THR Executive Editor Lacey Rose why he felt shame for so many years and why the shame made him feel like hiding his status from his loved ones. He also explains why he’s speaking up about it now.
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He looked back at his HIV diagnosis, saying, “It was 2007, the worst year of my life. I was on the precipice of obscurity for about a decade or so, but 2007 was the worst of it. By February, I had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. By March, I signed bankruptcy papers. And by June, I was diagnosed HIV-positive.” But part of why he stayed silent about his diagnosis was due to his religious background. “HIV-positive, where I come from, growing up in the Pentecostal church with a very religious family, is God’s punishment,” he says.