Tag Archives: HIV

Hip Hop, Hip Hop News, Hip Hop News | Trending Hip Hop Stories, News

Several LGBTQ and HIV Organizations Pen Open Letter to DaBaby

Leave a comment

1313060943

DaBaby has apologized to the LGBTQ community, however, a coalition of 11 LGBTQ and HIV-focused organizations have released an open letter to the “Suge” rapper.

Included in the composition of organizations are GLAAD, Southern AIDS Coalition, and the Black Aids Institute and offer the chance to receive education about HIV.

“We heard your inaccurate and harmful comments at Rolling Loud and have read your Instagram apology,” the letter reads. “However, at a time when HIV continues to disproportionately impact Black Americans and queer and transgender people of color, a dialogue is critical. We must address the miseducation about HIV, expressed in your comments, and the impact it has on various communities.”

The letter highlights the artists and platforms that have spoken against DaBaby, while also highlighting the facts surrounding HIV.

“As leaders of organizations directly serving Black, LGBTQ, and HIV+ communities, we invite you to a private, off-the-record, virtual discussion with us,” the letter adds. “You stated you now understand how and why your comments were damaging. An open conversation holds the potential for you to now create meaningful impact by transforming from an adversary to an advocate.”

You can read the full letter here.

The post Several LGBTQ and HIV Organizations Pen Open Letter to DaBaby appeared first on The Source.

Click Here to Discuss in the Forums

Spread the love
             
 
   
Hip Hop, Hip Hop News, Hip Hop News | Trending Hip Hop Stories, News

Billy Porter Reportedly Feels ‘Relieved’ After Revealing HIV Status

Leave a comment

Billy Porter Reportedly Feels Relieved After Revealing HIV Status

Billy Porter revealed that he has been living with HIV for 14 years during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Porter gave more details during a TV interview with Tamron Hall and said that he was ashamed when he was diagnosed in 2007 because he’s apart of the generation who was “supposed to know better.”

“The shame is debilitating… The shame engulfed me. I had stomach issues for 14 years and nobody could figure out what or why. My stomach just felt like it was always in knots,” he said. “It felt like there was a hand on my heart squeezing every day, all day, every morning … Shame is a destroyer. It destroys everything.”

Hall reveals that Billy Porter called her a few weeks ago and said “I got something else to share that I’ve been holding for 14 years.”

“The [phone] conversation was just as tearful as the interview. He came to grips with how it was all coming out, and he was very emotional. He didn’t want the story to get lost. There was a sense of relief,” an insider told Page Six.

Billy Porter portrays an HIV positive character, Pray, on the hit show Pose, and says their stories are parallel.

The 51-year-old emotionally revealed that his performance on the show wasn’t much of an act.

“That’s what I speak of when I speak of the gift that ‘Pose’ has been for me — the idea of understanding that trauma is not something that you compartmentalize or disassociate from, which I am so good at doing,” he said. “The trauma started so early for me — the only muscle I had until recently was to disassociate and compartmentalize, and keep moving forward.”

He added that “thanks to COVID” and his therapist, he was forced to “sit in it.”

“She said, ‘Billy, you have been able — in action — to manifest a life for yourself, while your mind is still stuck in the trauma. We got to catch your mind up to your actions,’” the actor said. “That is what ‘Pose’ has done for me … It made me sit in it. Sit in it, and go through it, so that I can heal and maybe be a blessing to someone else.”

The post Billy Porter Reportedly Feels ‘Relieved’ After Revealing HIV Status appeared first on The Source.

Click Here to Discuss in the Forums

Spread the love
             
 
   
Hip Hop, Hip Hop News, News

“London Patient” Becomes Second Person Effectively Cured Of HIV

Leave a comment
Hmm I see what it is...

Source: katleho Seisa / Getty

As researchers around the world diligently search for a cure to HIV and aid in preventative measures, a second person has effectively been cured of the virus. The “London Patient,” as he has been called in the press, has also identified himself in the wake of the cure revelation.

As reported by the BBC, Venezuelan-born London resident Adam Castillejo, 40, was the recipient of a rare stem-cell treatment to combat Hodgkin lymphoma. He was given stem cells from donors who possess a gene that prevents HIV from developing within them and Castillejo now has the resistant gene. The procedure and its results were reported in the Lancet HIV journal.

In simple terms, the stem cell transplants block HIV from replicating inside Castillejo’s immune system cells and according to tests of bodily fluids, spinal fluid, and tissues, the virus is all but undetectable. Castillejo has been using medication to keep the virus in check since 2012, but for the past 30 months, he hasn’t needed to use them. Castillejo joins American Timothy Brown who in 2011 was announced as the first person cured of HIV from a similar stem cell procedure.

Researchers do caution that there is a possibility the virus might return and that the stem cell treatment was not aimed at the virus but instead it was used as a cancer treatment. Still, this proves that the technique used can further be studied and developed for wider use.

According to lead researcher Dr. Ravindra Kumar Gupta of the University of Cambridge, he writes, “It is important to note that this curative treatment is high-risk and only used as a last resort for patients with HIV who also have life-threatening haematological malignancies. Therefore, this is not a treatment that would be offered widely to patients with HIV who are on successful anti-retroviral treatment.”

—

Photo: Getty

Source: HipHopWired.com

Click Here to Discuss in the Forums

Spread the love