David Furnish praises man for revealing his HIV status after being inspired by a show

A man who has kept his HIV diagnosis a secret for 10 years has been praised for opening up about it after watching It’s a Sin.

The Channel 4 series follows a group of friends who move to London in 1981 and see their lives turned upside down by the outbreak of the AIDS crisis.

Luke Kelly, 30, saw it and was inspired to reveal his HIV status on Instagram.

David Furnish, chairman of the Elton John Aids Foundation, described him as “a hero” on BBC News on Monday.

Mr Kelly, whose original Instagram live video in conversation with his friend has been viewed more than 47,000 times since it was posted on February 20, was first diagnosed in 2011 at the age of 21.

He told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire on Monday that he thought he was going to die when he first discovered it, and that he felt great shame at contracting what is now considered a “very manageable “.

“I actually thought, ‘How can my parents see me die? Mr. Kelly said. “And it’s a pretty traumatic experience to have at 21, and it could have been avoided if there had been a little more education.”

‘So much shame’

Watching It’s A Sin, which stars Olly Alexander and Lydia West, brought those emotions back to the center of attention, but in a new context, he said.

“There were so many things that came to me that I resonated with, and I kind of thought I was okay with my status because it’s been 10 years,” Kelly added. “But I realized it was something I was hiding – it was a secret.

“There is so much shame associated with HIV, and there is so much negativity and it sort of stems from the fear that set in in the 80s, because there were no drugs available.” , he continued.

“The government had to communicate this fear to the public – it’s kind of like what we see with the coronavirus, people are afraid. And I understand why it happened, [but] the government and the media never really reported, so people don’t know what it’s like to be living with HIV today – it’s completely different now. “

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Despite advances in medical science, he said, some attitudes toward the virus – and toward homosexuals in general – remain stuck in the past.

“I couldn’t even tell my parents back then because it was just something I was so ashamed of, [there was] so much stigma attached to it.

“The shame really comes from homophobia, so it still exists today.”

“End HIV”

While speaking on the BBC News Channel, David Furnish, who is married to Sir Elton John, surprised Mr Kelly with a message of support and thanks for helping to fight the stigma surrounding the virus.

“Luke, I take my hat off to you – you are a hero,” Furnish said.

“The Instagram chat you set up with your friends is such an inspiration to so many people.

“You are the strongest, happiest, and liveliest example of what it is like to live with HIV today. And you are incredibly knowledgeable about how the virus is transmitted and prevented and on the effectiveness of drugs. “

He added: “If more people did what you did … we could end HIV.”

What is HIV?

• HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus – immunodeficiency is the weakening of the immune system by the virus.

• It has been transmitted between humans for many decades, but was not identified until the early 1980s.

• If left untreated, HIV infection progresses through a series of stages, leading to advanced stage HIV or AIDS

• HIV can be transmitted through blood or semen, but do not transmitted by spitting, sneezing, coughing, kissing or general social contact.

• There is now strong evidence, with confidence, that people on effective HIV treatment cannot transmit the virus.

• An estimated 94,100 people are living with HIV in the UK, of which around 2,200 are in Wales; 4,484 people were diagnosed in 2018, a drop of 28% since 2015.

• Due to combined prevention – condom use, pre-exposure prophylaxis with HIV prevention drugs (PrEP), expanded HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy – there was a 39% drop in diagnosis among gay and bisexual men. since 2015

• Sources: Terrence Higgins Trust and Public Health England

Man reveals his HIV status after watching It’s a Sin

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