Drag Race UK's Charity Kase: 'Using my platform to speak out about HIV stigma'

The Drag Race UK contestant talks about HIV stigma, the reality of living with the virus and how drag became her therapy.

When drag performer Charity Kase was 18, she was diagnosed with HIV.

"Beforehand, all I'd seen through the media was that it was 'disgusting', 'dirty' and 'easily avoidable'," she remembers.

Looking for support, she spoke to a family member about it.

Instead, the family member said: "Oh, I told you to be careful."

Although Charity - whose real name is Harry - started treatment and now lives a healthy life because of it, it was the stigma associated with HIV that had the biggest impact on her life.

The trauma she felt from this stigma in many ways forced her to retreat from the world - and eventually become the one-of-a-kind drag queen who is now showcasing her art on RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

Six years on, Charity is firmly established as one of east London's edgiest drag queens - with a following of hundreds of thousands on Instagram - and she's determined to dispel the stigma and myths about HIV. 

As she discussed on the latest episode in a chat with fellow queen Kitty Scott-Claus, she's received messages on dating apps and on social media from people calling her "diseased", "dirty" and telling her to "stay away from me" - even though her HIV status is "undetectable", external. This means treatment has reduced the viral load in her blood to such a low level that it can't be detected by a test or passed on to someone else.

"[They were] horrible, nasty comments that are really degrading and mean," she tells BBC Three.

One recent study suggests this sort of HIV stigma still exists widely in the UK.

In a poll, external of ​​3,000 people for the National AIDS Trust, only a third of respondents fully agreed they have sympathy for all people living with HIV, regardless of how they acquired it. And only a third said it definitely wouldn't negatively impact their relationship with a family member. 

Meanwhile, just 16% of people were aware HIV treatment stops HIV from being transmitted.

The UK government has promised to end new cases of HIV in England by 2030 - and leading HIV charities, external recently called on the Chancellor and Health Secretary to commit to funding this at the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The government is committed to eliminating all new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and we are making good progress," adding that it's announced £16 million to cover the costs of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) - a medication that can prevent people without HIV from acquiring the virus.

The stigma that Charity faced affected her in other ways, too. People worried about sharing drinks with her - even though HIV can't be transmitted by saliva, external.

And ever since her diagnosis, the 24-year-old has struggled with the idea of opening up to others and being in a relationship. "I don't date now," she says. "I've not had a relationship since I was 18."

■ HIV Positive and proud: What’s with the stigma?

■ The woman with HIV helping others have a 'good death'

"For the first few days, I was putting that shame and stigma on myself," she says. "I had a feeling of worthlessness."

Charity - who grew up in the small village of Rufford in Lancashire - says that before her own diagnosis, she would uncheck the box that would match her with HIV+ partners on apps.

"It took me a few days to realise it was actually wrong of me to hold these prejudices before, so why the hell should I be holding myself up to them now?

"[That] was a really eye-opening moment. It pushed me towards being open about my experience and using my platform and privilege to speak out."

For Charity, drag was a way of expressing her emotions as she faced her HIV diagnosis and the stigma that came with it.

"When I was diagnosed, it kind of sent me into a spiral," she says. "I was with my partner at the time and our relationship ended. I felt really lost. I dropped out of college. I didn't have a direction to go in."

Charity had been supporting herself by washing dishes in pubs - but quit because she was sick before she started taking medication.

Leaving her job behind, she explains, "started this spiral of creativity for me into becoming Charity.

"It's a form of escape to take yourself out of your body for a few hours - or to put a new body on top of yours. It's really therapeutic in that sense.

"I'm not much of a talker about my emotions but drag was a way of expressing [myself]."

If she felt upset, for example, she'd paint herself as a sad character or if she was angry she'd paint herself as a demon. And she would write short fairy tale-like stories for each character, explaining their emotions and what they were going through.

"It made me accept that I was feeling this way," she says.

By community sexual and reproductive health doctor Annabel Sowemimo

"HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and it damages the body's immune system, making it more likely to pick up infections. If the virus is left untreated then a person with HIV can develop severe, life-threatening infections and this stage is known as AIDS. Thankfully, developing AIDS is extremely rare in countries like the UK where there is good access to treatment.

"HIV can be transmitted in blood and body fluid through sex without a condom (including sharing sex toys), to children in pregnancy and rarely through needles. You can't get HIV from kissing, general physical contact or sharing towels!

"Although there is currently no cure for HIV, we do have a very effective treatment called antiretroviral treatment (ART). This often means taking only one tablet a day to ensure the virus is undetectable (very low) in the body, meaning that it is untransmittable (cannot be passed on) to someone else - this is called U = U.

"In the UK, over 90% of people living with HIV are on treatment, with an undetectable viral load meaning that they will live to the same age as someone who is HIV negative. We also have PrEP, external.

"The unnecessary shame attached to HIV stops people getting tested and also accessing life-saving treatment. Stigma can be particularly hard for young people living with HIV; we can all help by knowing the right HIV facts and myth busting."

The National AIDS Trust adds that roughly half of people living with HIV in the UK are heterosexual and that HIV disproportionately affects groups that face wider prejudice such as gay and bisexual men, trans people and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.

Charity is well-known for her extravagant, outrageous, over-the-top looks.

"I'm just a drama queen!" she laughs. "I like things being as big and impressive and ridiculous as possible. Becoming a fantasy creature is so much more entertaining to me."

"I love touring and travelling," she says, adding that she'd love to do more design and make-up work for film and TV.

"Drag's kind of taken over my life more recently so Charity is number one right now. Harry's needs will come to pass eventually. I don't want him doing drag forever.

"I enjoy it right now but I love change so I think it'll only be so long before Charity Kase is found dead on the front pages of the magazines!"

Sources of support related to HIV are available via the BBC Action Line here.

RuPaul's Drag Race UK is available on BBC iPlayer.