‘Well, what’s your name and where do you come from?’
Time to meet Cilla Jack - ‘HIV Blind Date’, ACT UP London’s legendary World AIDS Day show for people living with HIV to share the realities of life, love and struggle is back for the first time since 2019!
This year's ‘HIV Blind Date’ raises awareness of HIV stigma and the barriers to healthcare and wellbeing that the trans HIV+ community face. The show offers a template to combine dance, performance, live music, stunts and spoken word to tell true life stories of people living with and affected by the virus.
This year our focus is on access to trans healthcare. Why?
Because ACT UP is an unapologetically political and grassroots civil rights movement and our fight for access to healthcare for all must be led by the most oppressed.
"Trans healthcare in the UK is a mess - gargantuan waiting lists, 1000 hoops to jump through, and no guarantees you'll get the care you need. Even outside of gender affirming care, we face confused professionals who don't understand our bodies, stigma, misinformation, and even refusal of care. This all leads to trans people feeling completely alienated by the medical system, making us less likely to seek treatment and support for any reason. Given we're more at risk of acquiring HIV/HEP than many other groups, this is disastrous. We're being let down as a community and things have to change!
HIV Blind Date has always shone a light on the realities of people living and loving with HIV/HEP. It's the perfect time to look at how this intersects with the trans experience and I couldn't be more stoked to be involved!" Jack Wakely, ACT UP London
HIV Blind Date demands
- Genuine access to healthcare - Is HIV care itself accessible to trans people? Without access to healthcare, you can’t keep up to a good regime
- A specific peer support service for Trans people living with HIV - there is currently a postcode lottery when it comes to services, meaning many trans people with HIV face further marginalisation
- Increased mental health and wellbeing support - reports show that trans people come off worse at every aspect of mental wellbeing and stigma - we demand better!
Please support this crowdfunder with anything you can.
Funders like the Arts Council always deem us “too political” so we rely on our incredible network of activists and supporters to make our community theatre show happen.
We need £1500 to pay for sign language interpretation and captioning for mass accessibility, fabulous costumes for our contestants and glamorous assistants, a gorgeous trans rights banner and props, time to research latest statistics on trans healthcare to curate the script, travel money for all to get to rehearsals, costs to pay for a photographer and videographer on the night and costs to support accessibility.
Thank you
“People living with HIV are terribly impacted by mental health problems, according to Positive Voices research by PHE: 40% of people with HIV have received a mental health diagnosis, and loneliness and isolation have been identified as critical issues affecting the quality of life. The cuts which have caused the closure of so many HIV social support services, mean that many people are facing mental health crisis alone with no hope of accessing life saving support.” Silvia Petretti, CEO, Positively UK