TikTok star Zachary Willmore is thriving through his HIV journey and homophobes can’t stand it
By Editors · 19 comments· Updated on January 26, 2024
Screengrabs via @zachwillmore on TikTok
TikTok star and former history-making prom queen Zachary Willmore is documenting his journey with his recent HIV diagnosis, but haters and homophobes just can’t handle that it’s not dulling his adorable shine.
Zachary’s videos are usually funny, pink, high-energy comedy and vlogging from a creator who clearly went to the iconic Chrissy Chlapecka school of TikTok Bimbology™. Towards the end of February, he uploaded a much more serious video than usual in which he detailed the positive HIV diagnosis he’d received just a week earlier.
Since then, he’s been providing daily updates on the ways those around him have helped him cope, the medical journey he’s been through since his diagnosis, and his coming to terms with living with HIV for the rest of his life. He’s meeting most of these moment with his trademark flair and joy, trying not to let one diagnosis change who he is.
To TERF-y Twitter user @Slatzism and their ilk, this was the most sinful content imaginable:
How about we take this to the next level?
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you were born too late to explore the earth, too early to explore the stars, but just in time to see zoomers vlog their HIV diagnosis pic.twitter.com/cvS8n5YsCm
“Good news is people are going to see that post, come over to my page, and give me views and likes,” he notes. “Bad news is those b*tches do not like me.”
Prince Harry says he wants to follow in his mom’s footsteps and help to end HIV transmission.
In the days since, the good has massively, overwhelmingly come to outweigh the bad.
Instead of mocking his sparky style over this serious topic, most are celebrating his enduring happiness as evidence of how far out community’s battle with HIV has come.
And telling user @Slatzism to f*** off, naturally:
I’ve been positive since 22, undetectable since 24. If i had even an ounce of the courage this young person has to talk about what I was going through then, promise you I would never have seen my cell count drop to 13 per microliter, putting me inches from blown AIDS. Fuck off https://t.co/rNbkvka3Yg
Ur mad that a deadly disease that had haunted humanity for decades is getting treatable enough for it to be a positive vlog subject? https://t.co/0nHjqHMjDo
— NEW MERCH OUT HoSo Terra Toma ?? (@hosoterratoma) March 8, 2023
sorry to be corny but i rlly think something has to be wrong with you to watch this & not feel tremendous warmth toward this person! im so glad that they’ll be able to manage their diagnosis, they have support, & they’re being open to fight stigma and educate their followers!! https://t.co/eZXsiy3T0q
“I had gone to Callen-Lorde to get a pimple drained…”
hard to feel anything except joy and gratitude at the fact that in 2023 someone with HIV can expect to live well into old age. https://t.co/OcU0N6deQT
— abram AKA “The Funky Khazar” (@abram_facts) March 8, 2023
His mother didnt abandon him like so many others. Hes not laying in a dirty hospital ward untouched and all alone. He wont be apart of the miles long memorial quilt. He gets to live and its so wonderful that we have come so far. Hes so young and sparkly and full of life.
— Fancy on the Inside (@InfiniteWitches) March 8, 2023
a goofy zoomer who gets HIV being able to envision a future of getting a few extra tests and taking a couple of daily pills is one of the greatest triumphs of medical science in human history and we should give daily thanks to god that it happened https://t.co/PmNkbJfxym
Nearly an entire generation of gay men were wiped out by HIV/AIDS. People were attending funerals of people they loved every week for years. Decades of activism as a community happened so they could do precisely this without shame or fear. This is fucking awesome. https://t.co/Gm4iflr5LQ
My aunt passed away bc of AIDS. One of the things that made her condition deteriorate faster was the mental strain over being ostracized by her friends and family. Destigmatizing STIs/STDs is essential to help those suffering from them. He’s doing nothing wrong https://t.co/sYgTj8P9Om
you must be the most miserable cunt in the world if you dont see the beauty in this, showing that there is joy n life after an HIV diagnosis, that it is no longer a death sentence n they will lead a happy n fulfilling life n die of old age. this is what queer elders fought for. https://t.co/G2OyyrDfQq
Even if it’s not in the exact tone some would like, Zachary’s ability to have optimism about his positive diagnosis is the result of tireless work from advocates and the loss of so many great people in our community.
In what’s set to be his last daily HIV journey update, the creator shared that he was already close to undetectable and promised weekly updates for anyone that this video series was helping.
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Thank you. When I hear undetectable I think there needs to be a more sensitive test. These guys are walking around thinking and acting like they are cured.
I’m sorry, but there’s got to be some emotional gravitas brought to the subject of contracting a serious disease like HIV. OK, he needn’t be funereal and preparing for death in a hospice, but he’s acting like he just won the Miss America contest.
Exactly my opinion as well. It is wonderful that people who acquire HIV now can get treatment and live healthy lives, that is a wonderful medical development. However, he has still acquired a serious long term disease. It’s not like it’s a case of gastro or the flu. I am glad he is dealing with his diagnosis and has support but I do find the videos jarring.
No one is glamorizing HIV. I see plenty of people on youtube that you could say were glamorizing things like Cancer based on your narrow definition. Well, that is if you were an effing idiot.
I get it that you hate his flamboyance and happiness and feel the need to shit on him. Maybe stop being such bitter assholes. No glamor in that either.
When I first read about him here on Queerty a few years ago I thought then he was a young out of control queen whose parents looked forward to the day he would be out of the house and out of their hair more or less. His status does not shock me at all. It’s called the inevitable. He should pack up and head on out to WeHo where he would fit in perfectly with the fabulous crowds the locale offers.
Agreed. I lived through the days when it was indeed death sentence.
What surprises me is why would a sexually active young man not be on prep? I have a few friends in their 20s who are very active and each of them is hypervigilant about being on prep. I thought that was the norm.
As a 78 y/o gay man who lived through the travesty that was the 80’s and early 90’s, I am over-joyed That this person who I never heard of before this piece is living his best life and is not letting the disease define him. I can’t tell you how many people who I knew passed from this scourge. That we have gotten to a place where this person can openly live with it and talk about it is refreshing.
Amen, Denny! I’m 62. I was scared to death during the 1980s. I’m still here, so I got through it just fine personally, but I agree that it is just lovely that HIV isn’t the immediate death sentence that it was back then or even, really, a death sentence at all. I also had never heard of this young man before, but good for him, and I hope he has a long and happy life ahead of him.
Most gay kids in Europe take PrEP. Why wasn’t this fvckwit?
What is PrEP? PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body.
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CatholicXXX
Ya’ll need to stop glamorizing hiv
Darson
Thank you. When I hear undetectable I think there needs to be a more sensitive test. These guys are walking around thinking and acting like they are cured.
dbmcvey
@Darson
When people are undetectable they cannot pass on the infection. This is proven. Your “thinking” isn’t based on science.
bachy
I’m sorry, but there’s got to be some emotional gravitas brought to the subject of contracting a serious disease like HIV. OK, he needn’t be funereal and preparing for death in a hospice, but he’s acting like he just won the Miss America contest.
andrewl
Exactly my opinion as well. It is wonderful that people who acquire HIV now can get treatment and live healthy lives, that is a wonderful medical development. However, he has still acquired a serious long term disease. It’s not like it’s a case of gastro or the flu. I am glad he is dealing with his diagnosis and has support but I do find the videos jarring.
dbmcvey
So what should he do? Put on a hairshirt and flagellate himself in the city square.
Infections still happen and they can be treated. I think that’s the more important mesage.
Chrisk
No one is glamorizing HIV. I see plenty of people on youtube that you could say were glamorizing things like Cancer based on your narrow definition. Well, that is if you were an effing idiot.
I get it that you hate his flamboyance and happiness and feel the need to shit on him. Maybe stop being such bitter assholes. No glamor in that either.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
When I first read about him here on Queerty a few years ago I thought then he was a young out of control queen whose parents looked forward to the day he would be out of the house and out of their hair more or less. His status does not shock me at all. It’s called the inevitable. He should pack up and head on out to WeHo where he would fit in perfectly with the fabulous crowds the locale offers.
mailliw110
Happiness is hard to understand for some people.
dbmcvey
Wow, “Sister” you’re not a kind person.
sfhairy
HIV is not a death sentence so long as you take your medication. Sadly, he didn’t do PREP which would have prevented him from getting HIV.
HalcyonDays
Agreed. I lived through the days when it was indeed death sentence.
What surprises me is why would a sexually active young man not be on prep? I have a few friends in their 20s who are very active and each of them is hypervigilant about being on prep. I thought that was the norm.
dbmcvey
I don’t know where he lives but information isn’t always available and not everyone has insurance–at least in the US.
dennynova
As a 78 y/o gay man who lived through the travesty that was the 80’s and early 90’s, I am over-joyed That this person who I never heard of before this piece is living his best life and is not letting the disease define him. I can’t tell you how many people who I knew passed from this scourge. That we have gotten to a place where this person can openly live with it and talk about it is refreshing.
Karlis
Amen, Denny! I’m 62. I was scared to death during the 1980s. I’m still here, so I got through it just fine personally, but I agree that it is just lovely that HIV isn’t the immediate death sentence that it was back then or even, really, a death sentence at all. I also had never heard of this young man before, but good for him, and I hope he has a long and happy life ahead of him.
dbmcvey
@dennynova & Karlis
A little younger than you (58) but I went through the same thing and I’m happy to see him thriving.
Consider This
19 years old and living with HIV. How very sad. It doesn’t have to be this way…
dbmcvey
It happens. It is sad but HIV can now be treated and brought down to where he can live a happy life.
Tallskin5
Most gay kids in Europe take PrEP. Why wasn’t this fvckwit?
What is PrEP? PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body.