Courtney Act is having a big year. The former top three contestant of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 won Celebrity Big Brother UK in February, and has recently joined the New Zealand AIDS Foundation on their quest to educate the masses about what it really means to live with HIV.
The star opened up about her personal experience with HIV in a press release from the organization. “An ex-boyfriend of mine is living with HIV,” she said. “He has an undetectable viral load so I know first-hand how this can affect people in a serodiscordant couple — which is where one partner is HIV-negative and one is HIV-positive.”
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Act said that because her ex-lover has an undetectable viral load (or UVL for short), he didn’t have to worry about transmitting the disease. “Scientific evidence shows he was unable to pass HIV on to me, even without condoms,” she said.
The Celebrity Big Brother winner is a part of the organization’s latest efforts in informing the public about lesser-known facts regarding HIV. Their most recent video features Act explaining what an undetectable viral load is, how scientific studies have proven that HIV cannot be transmitted with a UVL and why using a condom is still a good way to go.
“We live in a fear-based world where HIV stigma can prevail,” Act said. “For people living with HIV, the knowledge that undetectable equals untransmittable is huge news, not only as a means of preventing transmission, but in breaking down the stigma that many people still experience.”
Watch Act’s full educational video on UVLs below: