Andrew and I were back in Belfast today for Belfast Pride.
While we were there, we came across the Belfast Trust’s GUM clinic stall and stopped to have our photograph taken. It was a joyful little Pride moment, but it also carried a great deal of meaning for me.
That clinic is where, more than seventeen years ago, I was diagnosed as living with HIV.
Andrew and me at the Belfast Trust stall during Belfast Pride 2026. More than seventeen years ago, I was diagnosed as living with HIV through the Trust’s GUM clinic.
I could not have known then what the years ahead would hold. There was fear, uncertainty and a great deal to learn. But there was also treatment, care, love and life. Today, my HIV is undetectable, and I am still here: married to Andrew, writing, making music, travelling, celebrating Pride and living positively.
Returning to that place did not feel like returning to a moment of shame. It felt like standing within the whole story: diagnosis, survival, treatment, love and hope.
Testing matters. HIV can affect anyone, and knowing your status means you can access treatment and care. Modern HIV treatment is highly effective, and a person who maintains an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV on sexually: Undetectable = Untransmittable.
So, from someone whose life changed in that Belfast clinic more than seventeen years ago: if you have not been tested recently, please consider doing so.
Knowing your status is not something to fear. It is an act of care—for yourself and for those you love.
And sometimes, many years later, you may find yourself standing at Pride, smiling beside your husband, in the very place where a new chapter of your life first began.