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DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “It’s not the death sentence it was years ago”

by Gaby Agbulos

EVER SINCE the first episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race Philippines Season 3”, viewers have been enamored with contestant Myx Chanel thanks to their wit, classiness, and stunning visuals.

Not to mention that their runway looks are always a hundred percent on point.

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

Outside of Drag Race, Myx is known as the drag daughter of Eva Le Queen (one of the finalists of Drag Race Philippines Season 1 and a part of “RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars Season 1” and as a co-host and co-founder of the “Beke Nemen” podcast and viewing parties.

During the fifth episode, fans and fellow queens applauded Myx’s bravery when they came out as HIV-positive after being announced as one of the top queens for the week. 

Here, they shared how they were diagnosed in 2021, but thankfully after six months, they became undetectable. 

As they stood on stage in front of the judges, they said: “I know that it’s not the death sentence that it was many years ago.”

They added that one of the reasons they entered the competition was to show the world just how strong and beautiful people living with HIV could be.

“I just want to inspire people like me that you can always get through it,”  they shared with a smile on their face.

In an interview with Myx, republicasia was able to talk to them more about dealing with their diagnosis and why they chose to share it on a platform as big as Drag Race.

Myx’s journey

27-year-old Myx’s drag journey first started during the pandemic. They started in the Zoom parties of Drag Playhouse until eventually, Spaces Manila, the media arm of the organization Love Yourself, held a competition for baby queens. 

After Myx won the competition, they regularly became a part of a weekly Saturday night drag show called “Kweeens Noight”. During these shows, they would also discuss the different advocacies of Love Yourself, one of which was raising awareness about HIV by encouraging people to get tested regularly.

“A big part of my early drag career was really spent as a queen under Spaces under Love Yourself, and now and then they would contact me for Pride shows,” they said. 

“So I’ve been part of their advocacy shows practically since I started.”

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

Myx found out that they were HIV-positive back in February 2021. They’d already been working closely with Love Yourself at that point, so they’d already been able to educate themself on the disease even before their diagnosis.

“I guess it was more like having to now go through the process of it,” they said.

Myx said that, during their diagnosis, the nurse had been very gentle with them. They assumed this was because the clinic probably got a lot of big reactions from people when finding out that they were positive.

They continued: “I was immediately like, “Okay, what do we need to do? What medicine do I have to take? Give it to me.””

Myx was also calm because they had already psyched themself out beforehand. Though admittedly the test did make them feel rather anxious, they’d already been able to sit down the night before to figure out what would happen if ever the diagnosis did turn out to be positive. 

“I mentally prepared myself for that moment, and having been able to work with a lot of HIV and awareness organizations and campaigns before gave me a lot of confidence na this is something that I can get through,” they shared. 

“It doesn’t have to be life-changing or anything.”

Road to recovery

On Drag Race, Myx shared that they became undetectable just six months after their initial diagnosis.  

As per the website AIDS Map, the “viral load” refers to the amount of HIV found in your bodily fluids. Eventually, with proper treatment, you will be able to have an “undetectable” or “untransmissible” viral load, which means that there is not enough of the virus in your bodily fluids to be passed on to others. 

While now, Myx only has to take one pill a day, they first started with Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, wherein they took tenofovir disoproxil (TLD) to suppress the virus in their body.

They also took medicine for anti-tuberculosis because HIV is considered an “opportunity taker virus,” which means that those who have it have a weaker immune system, and are thus more prone to diseases like tuberculosis. 

In total, they were taking three different forms of medications during the first few months, including their ARV medication.

After six months, they then returned to the clinic to take another blood test to see their status.

There were also other changes that they had to make to their lifestyle, such as lessening their alcohol intake and finding ways to be more active, like working out. 

They explained that with HIV, you have to strengthen your immune system. These supplemental actions – drinking less, eating healthier, and exercising more – worked alongside their ARV treatment to ensure their recovery.

Nowadays though, Myx says that they’re back to regular programming, wherein they can do whatever they want as long as they continue to take their maintenance medicine, saying that it’s no different from people with diabetes who take maintenance medicine, or with people who drink vitamins every day.

“In terms of the medicine, I’m lucky that I didn’t experience a lot of side effects,” they said.

“There are different side effects that can happen per person.”

They did, however, suffer from insomnia as a result of their treatment, which is why they were recommended to take their medicine earlier on in the day.

They added that they were able to come to terms with their diagnosis rather easily. What was hard for them, though, was disclosing it to everyone else.

Coming out on Drag Race

Before coming out about their diagnosis on Drag Race, very few knew that Myx was HIV-positive. Their mother and sister only found out about their diagnosis a month before the episode aired. Their other siblings also only found out through the show. 

“Since we filmed the show, months ago until right before it came out, I was a little anxious because I don’t know how to feel about it being public knowledge,” they said about disclosing their status on the show. 

“I don’t know what to feel about it being on my hypothetical Wikipedia article. People search me up, lalabas siya as part of the information that’s public access. I didn’t know how to feel about that, but now it’s like, I feel very freed by it na I don’t have to have this conversation anymore.”

During this episode, the category for the runway was Kumot Couture, which Myx explained was a queer child’s escape – a celebration of their identity even behind closed doors. 

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

For Myx, that moment was extremely serendipitous, especially when the idea behind their outfit was to look like a child drowning in blankets (but make it chic, of course.)

“For all of that to happen in that moment, to me, it gave me so much strength na I just did well on the challenge, I’m here on the main stage of Drag Race looking beautiful na you wouldn’t know if you look at me, and that’s the point,” they stated.

“HIV is not a look, HIV is not something you can “clock.” It’s just a circumstance of the world. It’s just something that exists.”

Myx has also conditioned themself beforehand that they wouldn’t cry if ever they would talk about it, because they did not want to look weak. And when watching the episode, sure enough, Myx was looking as beautiful as ever, with their head held high. 

Myx noted that for the longest time, the only conversations had in the Philippines about people with HIV were when you’d see gay people dying of it in teleseryes. For queer people, it was seen – and is still seen – as a punishment or as divine intervention that they “deserve” all because they had sex with someone of the same gender.

While Myx understood the importance of stories discussing HIV the way musicals like “RENT” or shows like “Pose” have done, they also knew that it was high time that people showed more success stories of HIV-positive people, as well. 

“Hindi ako iiyak, I refuse to allow myself to cry because I will not look weak – I refuse to look weak,” Myx told themself. 

“I refuse to make it seem like this is a sad thing that happened. No, it’s just something that happened to me, and then there [are] a lot more beautiful things that have happened after.”

Since the episode’s release, Myx was relieved to see that most of the responses they’d gotten had been positive thus far. 

Myx’s fellow drag queens have been extremely supportive of them since their coming out. During the viewing party of the fifth episode, a few queens who weren’t in their cast came up to them and hugged them, thanking them for what they did and for their strength. 

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

“It’s been a mostly positive experience and if anyone wants to take what I did in a negative light, if anyone wants to say something about me and my “morality” as a person, then shame on you,” Myx stated. 

“That’s your loss. If you want to take it in any negative light, that’s your loss as a person. That reflects more on you and your value[s] and the way you see the world than it does on me.”

Many other people have come forward to talk to Myx about their diagnosis, thanking Myx for helping others come to terms with their own diagnosis.

“I’ve gotten messages from people that have been living with it for years now, mayroon akong mga nakukuhang messages from people [who’ve] had it for over a decade, and they’re telling me how seeing me open up about it on a global platform just three years into my journey gave them strength,” Myx said.

The queen also received messages from people from HIV organizations validating the impact they’ve had – and the impact they will have – on the people they work with. 

People who have recently been diagnosed have also spoken with Myx, explaining that they’d been having a hard time accepting that part of them, but seeing Myx speak up about it on Drag Race gave them the strength to continue on with their journey.

Myx even received messages from teenage girls and boys thanking them for opening up about their status, with some being as young as 14.

About this, Myx said: “When I was 14, I wasn’t thinking about HIV, we [didn’t] have open discussions about HIV and AIDS and sexual health on TV, and dun ako medyo nagugulat.”

While they knew the impact they would have on people living with HIV and on people working with organizations centered on spreading awareness for HIV, what they did not realize was just how much of an impact they’d leave on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. 

“I have fans that are moms with five-year-old daughters messaging me na, “Hindi pa niya gets, but when she grows up, I can’t wait to have this conversation,”” they shared. 

“I’m still having a hard time – but in a good way – wrapping my head around the conversation I opened up.”

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

Starting a conversation

“Auditioning for Drag Race and getting in and preparing for the show, I kind of knew in the back of my mind na I may be one of the few people that can tell this story,” Myx said.

“And despite all of my fears about letting people know about it, I had to set that aside because I have been so lucky with my journey because a lot of things have gone so smoothly and so well for me.”

I just felt the responsibility to pay it forward with this big platform I’ve been given, knowing na it’s the Philippines, we’re a conservative Catholic country. I kind of felt that responsibility to be the one to open up that conversation.

Kasi if not now, when? If not me, then who?

Myx Chanel, Drag Queen

Myx felt that their story was something they had to share on Drag Race, especially given that the show has become such a big part of the queer experience in the country. 

It has opened up so many new platforms for queens to perform and share their advocacies, has brought in a larger audience to appreciate the work of queens, and has helped queer people feel safer in expressing themselves altogether. 

They didn’t want to wait for the next HIV-positive queen to get cast and share their story. Given Myx’s platform, they felt that they had a responsibility given that they have a great life and a great career on top of their diagnosis.

“The community of people living with HIV really need that, ‘cause we’ve gotten very few representatives; of course mayroon tayong mga advocates, mayroong allies, but iba yung impact ng makakita ng tao that has the same diagnosis as you living successfully [and] not letting their disease stop them,” they explained.

“Kasi ako, if I knew someone like that earlier on, I would’ve probably been even more empowered.”

Myx also shared that there had been a time when they felt guilty about being a vocal advocate while at the same time being unable to speak openly about their diagnosis. They felt that within themself, they were perpetuating a stigma that many held against HIV or against those with HIV. 

They added: “I had an idea of how empowering it could be for people like me to see someone just living a successful life despite it. So I just felt like I had to share it on the show.”

Despite the time that has passed since the release of the episode, Myx has had no regrets, particularly because they knew who they were doing it for.

No matter the fear of the backlash they may receive, Myx just kept thinking about the people with HIV that are having a hard time going through their treatment, the people who were rejected by others after coming out about their status, and those hospitalized due to the severity of their HIV. 

Myx knew that people like those needed to see someone like them – someone to speak up about it and break the stigma that’s long plagued the Philippines.

“These are the people I want to reach, these are the people I want to empower,” Myx said.

“Fuck what everyone else things. Fuck what everyone else has to say.”

To those who may have recently been diagnosed with HIV, or to those who have long had it and are still struggling to come to terms with it, Myx advised: “Information is power. Don’t let your diagnosis take any power away from you. You have all the power now, still.”

DRPH’s Myx Chanel on coming out as HIV-positive: “I just started a conversation”
Photo Courtesy: @myx.chanel | Instagram

* This article is part 1 of 2. The following article will tackle Myx Chanel discussing the current stigma that still surrounds HIV in the Philippines, as well as their hopes for the future about better education on the disease, and better treatment for those living with it.

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