A lot of people may remember me from Caitlyn
Jenner's docu series I Am Cait and from
my appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show
in which she and Caitlyn teamed up to help
me pay for nursing school.
I started telling my truth talking about my
struggles of not getting in nursing school,
but I noticed that as I would tell my story
to different people, to different shows and
everything, there was one part of my life
I decided to leave out.
I've been living with HIV for twelve years
now, and most people couldn't tell because
I'm just so happy, but once upon a time
I just, I went around just so angry all the
time.
But as I get older I really have to understand
that people can talk all they want, but
I can't let that hurt me. I just can't.
You know, I've come a long way.
And if I'm going to talk in my truth, I
need to stand in my entire truth, and I feel
like it was the right time, the right place
for that to happen.
[music]
People are still stuck on the fact of just
trans people being in society, period.
And so often it's a topic that's just
left out, because people will think well,
there's like three strikes against you.
One: I'm transgender, two: I'm a person
of color, three: I'm HIV positive. Society
will look down on me anyway, and I feel like
a lot of trans women of color don't mention
it, it's because of those things but I feel
like if we don't talk about it then, you
know, the problem will continue to persist.
It is very possible to be transgender and
living with HIV. You can still have a normal life.
HIV is not the end of the road. It should
be just the beginning.
[music]
