Bisi Alimi, a Nigerian gay rights activist and HIV/LGBT champion who received international prominence after becomes the first Nigerian to come out on television, has opened out about his struggle with the Human Immune Virus (HIV).
The outspoken campaigner stated that he had been battling HIV and that his best buddy died of AIDS at the age of 26.
Alimi took to Instagram to tell his ‘HIV and Me’ tale.
“EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, AT THE NATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE IN ABUJA, WITH NUDGING FROM FRIENDS, I WALKED INTO A TESTING BOOTH FOR THE FIRST TIME,” HE WROTE. I LEFT WITH A HIV-POSITIVE TEST RESULT. TWO YEARS BEFORE THAT, I’D JUST LOST MY BEST FRIEND TO AIDS AT THE AGE OF 26.
I’VE BEEN LIVING WITH HIV SINCE I WAS 29, AND THIS YEAR I’M 47. I KEPT QUIET ABOUT MY HIV STATUS BETWEEN 2004 AND 2009 DUE TO SHAME AND STIGMA.
THEN I REALIZED: IT’S STIGMA, SHAME, AND DISCRIMINATION THAT KILLS, NOT HIV.
CHEERS TO 18 YEARS OF SUCCESS AND MANY MORE TO COME. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE