Pornstars: Kayden Gray Reveals He’s HIV-Positive
Remember Kayden Gray, the pornstar who insisted that he was more than his dick ? That announcement raised eyebrows, but his recent revelation that he’s HIV-positive is sure to provoke discussion.
Gray made the announcement on his Youtube channel, in a video simply titled “+”. Running for 11 minutes, the video reveals how he got HIV and how he has been living with for the past three and a half years.
Gray reveals he’s HIV-positive early on in the video, and explains that he was moved to reveal his status once he started working in sexual health and he noticed “how many people are putting days upon weeks upon years of effort to benefit the sexual well-being” of the LGBTQ community.
He recalls that he contracted HIV three and half years ago, or nine months into his porn career. The discovery prompted a three month hiatus from porn and sex, because Gray said that he felt “disgusting” and “unlovable”. He thought that his porn career was over until he found out about anti-retroviral treatment, which eventually lessened his viral load to undetectable.
Gray then goes on to describe how he got the virus. He had gone to a party and had “unprotected sex with multiple guys”.
“It was fun. Then I was sick, a little sick. Even had a cold sore, which I had never had since i was a kid. And then after a week I thought I was going to be okay. I was getting better,” he continues. “And then it hit me, and I lost a shit ton of weight…I was going from doctor to doctor, and I thought I was going to die.”
Watch the rest of the video below:
Props to Gray for coming out with his status and working to erase the stigma that surrounds HIV. What do you guys think about Gray’s revelation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Having HIV does not make you disgusting or unlovable…ive dated POZ men, (negative top) know your facts and you’re fine, educate yourself on the risks, and you’re fine, the stigma is perpetuated by little bitch boys who think their opinion is relevant and is in fact whats wrong with the gay community, sexual health is of course very important but… things happen, dont judge someone for making a choice to have bareback sex, you arent them, judge yourself and move on!
Mad props to him for being able to reveal his status. It’s still hard to believe that after 35 years there is still this stigma to it. I hope this helps others realize that they need to take precautions when having sex.
i always assume anyone thats in the adult sex industry is poz.
Smart assumption, because they generally are.
“I’m more than my dick.” Yea apparently he’s also ass while getting gang-banged by a punch of dudes at a party. It’s funny how all these people want to act holier-than-thou and then end up eating crow later on. If you want to talk the talk then walk the walk.
There should be stigma. It is good he revealed how he contracted it. Barebacking, multiple guys, wearing down your immune system, are long-proven methods to ensure contracting HIV, which remains serious, life-threatening and incurable. Far too many young guys are inexcusably contracting it. And why do they assume the worst extremes of sexual behavior are somehow admirable or imitable? Those hundreds of thousands of guys who died for it, or for being betrayed by their lovers, did not die so they could be imitated. It makes a mockery of their deaths and the trauma to survivors. And much of this behavior is facilitated by baths, saunas, bars, who exploit evilly for cash. It is necessary to see such things as self-degrading, to have stigma, negativity. Crimes against Love do not go unpunished. It may be coincidental, but the religious people do not have it all wrong. Monogamous loving relationships are the safest and most healthy for all, whether possible or not. As much as porn can help lonely guys and provide education of a sort, it is not produced in a positive manner, by and large, for those purposes. The young men are exploited, pushed into prostitution, and utterly used.
@ “Father Hennepin” – Sex is not evil and sex shaming does no good for anyone. It won’t stop people having sex and it just makes you look self righteous. If you want to halt HIV in it’s tracks advocating PREP will actually get us there. Why do you assume sexual behavior is wrong or evil? If you want to be monogamous go for it, but what justification do you have for forcing your philosophy on everyone else? Stigma helps nobody, it actually increases poor choices and infection risk. This has been proven over and over.
You tell ’em! There is NO EXCUSE for pozzing up now…none….zero…nada…bupkis…….NONE.
I’m also a healthy HIV undetectable guy and have been for little over 3.5 yrs as well. I cant blame the guy who I contacted HIV from, but only myself. I should have been smarter when I had BB sex, but at the moment it felt good, just like all sex. Well, Karma got me.
Now, all I can do is move forward and educate other guys what HIV undetectable is and remove the stigma. It’s amazing the lack of education about HIV among straight, bi and gay men. Clean to me means “clean hygiene”, not DDF. I have seen too many ads and profiles that use “clean” in regards to STD free, need to start using DDF for correctness. All I can say, is…Take care of yourself and be safe.
While it’s good that he came out revealing his status, because many don’t even do that judging from the profiles here on A4A, did he really needed to have unprotected sex with plenty of unknown men at a sex party? They could’ve all worn condoms at least. While prep exist, it doesn’t give people the license to unsafe sex with people you don’t even know their status.
And it’s sad to say that the stigma still exist. There will be select men that won’t sleep with him even with condoms on, so yes it’s very real. He did bring up a good point with the term ‘clean’, I think DDF is a better term for it. That’s another problem, too many of us actually believes the guy when he said he’s ‘clean’, and he probably hadn’t did an std testing for a long time.
Why are people surprised today still, when they do anything/everything with strangers and no protection and end up +? Do people never learn that just because it’s “fun” or “felt good” at the time, doesn’t mean that you can’t catch a disease? You are to assume everyone is + and take the proper precautions or don’t do anything if you wanna remain – status. I started seeing many years ago the attitudes of those positive as having just some “chronic disease” that needs treatment no biggie and many who are undetectable as suddenly they are negative or can do whatever they want again, some even telling others they are now negative. Why are people willing to risk their health for a moment of pleasure? Do people not realize that although you may not die in months like back in the day, that medications that are ongoing aren’t cheap? Has no one learned from all the death back in the 80s and 90s? I am certainly not judging anyone, but the gay community needs to get a reality check-being drunk, on drugs and having anonymous sex with someone isn’t a way to live. YOU, not someone else is responsible for your own actions and health.
So he came out about his status and now he is showing Social Responsibility.
As Dana Carveys’ Church Lady character would say, “isn’t That Special.
Undetectable = Until suddenly one day your not.
On PrEP = You can still catch HIV.
Don’t play the Fool, in your activities.
Play protected, don’t lull others, or be lulled into a false sense of it’s all good, you can trust me.
People LIE, don’t be STUPID.
That about covers it.
The fact of the matter is if you ask anyone that has HIV or had it and passed away if they could change their status would they everyone single one of them (sans the bug chasers) would say yes. Their should be stigma because their is no cure and people’s lives are still affected by it point blank period. Prep is not a cure.
At least he was honest about it. Give him props for that.
I hope Kayden has found the support he needs and more importantly, love. I just assume that most pornstars are poz. Not such a shocking revelation. I’m not familiar with his work but I hope if he contiunes to do porn that he is open the possibility to doing bareback porn. He is an articulate, thoughtful guy. A guy who would be easy to love. HIV is a very manageable syndrome. It shouldn’t have the stigma that it has/had.
Thanks for sharing your story Kayden. Blessings and hugs.
I love Kayden’s work and think he is brave risking everything by revealing his status. I’ve had HIV for 30 years and been undetectable for 10 and still don’t have the nerve to attempt sex with anyone. The stigma is pervasive.