It’s Pants for people living with HIV while telling no one
ACTIVIST Rory O’neill has spoken out against the stigma attached to HIV saying there are people living with it who haven’t told “a living soul”.
The 54-year-old gay icon, better known as drag artist Panti Bliss, was diagnosed with HIV at 27 and said it is “easily manageable”.
Rory topped the Dancing With The Stars leaderboard last week dressed out of drag for the first time with pro partner Denys Sampson while they danced to Pet Shop Boys anthem It’s A Sin.
He dedicated his Pasa Doble dance to Prof Fiona Mulcahy, one of the first doctors who treated him when he was diagnosed and told he had five years to live.
On Friday night’s Late Late Show, Rory told host Ryan Tubridy that he is regularly contacted by people when he talks about living with HIV.
He said: “Every time I speak publicly... I’ll be getting emails this week and they’ll be from people who are living in different parts of the country.
“Mostly in smaller towns but not always, people who are living with HIV and they have never told a single soul, not a brother, not a sister, not a friend, nobody.
“They have to reach out to a stranger they’ve seen on the television because it’s this huge psychological millstone around their neck.”
Rory, a leading campaigner for the marriage referendum “yes” vote, said he agreed to do DWTS to show others with HIV it’s possible to lead a normal
Every time I speak publicly... I’ll get emails RORY O’NEILL ON HIS BATTLE WITH HIV
life. He added: “I want to be in your living room on a Sunday night while you’re sitting there with your parents, your grandparents and your kids.
“Showing you that I can be a 54-year-old man living with HIV for the past 27 years certainly able to dance on live television, it’s a new world.
“The reason that I wanted to do this on Sunday night live entertainment is because most people out there still have an image of living with HIV that’s trapped.
“People still have this massive fear about it. They think it’s a lifeending condition, and that is not the case any more.
“And it hasn’t been like that for many years now.”
Pink’s one to watch is US singer-songwriter Taylor Janzen, who is currently making waves with her debut album, I Live in Patterns. The singer admits: “I love the title track. I was just listening to it.”