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Ant Babajee

@t4rdis

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Unashamedly #Undetectable: award-winning #HIV and trade union activist | Deutschsprecher | @impulselondon Advocacy Director | #PublicHealth grad

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Just over a fortnight on from @PrideinLondon, I am still reflecting on the power of our community who marched together in support of trans rights. Pride is a protest, a celebration of how far we have come, and a reminder of the rights we still need to win. No Pride for some of us without Liberation for all of us.The week of Pride in London, we celebrated our four @MiddlesexUniversity finalists at @TheQueerStudentAwards 2026 in Manchester. And the preparations for Pride continued – all those placards weren’t going to laminate themselves! The theme for this year’s Pride in London was #ManyVoicesOneFront. As I have learned from the trade union movement in recent years: when we find common cause and stand together, we are unstoppable. I was incredibly proud to lead our group for another year alongside my award-winning colleague Christiana Rose (@chrissymrose). She won Ally of the Year at the QSAs – a recognition of her sustained, thoughtful and non-performative allyship with our students and colleagues. I was also deeply proud that our student ‘Michael’ was highly commended in the Role Model: Student category. Their story is a powerful reminder that for many people, their identity is not simply about self-expression. It is about safety, survival, dignity and hope. This year we were honoured to be the first university group the crowd saw. One of my most abiding memories was the cheers of encouragement and applause the crowd gave our group when they saw our banner and placards. I am hugely grateful to our wonderful photographer Sara Annunziata (@sarayankee) who took the official photos you can see above, and to our students, colleagues, family members, friends and allies, including from @ImpulseLondon and @AIDSHealthUK. It was wonderful to march alongside all of them, wearing the T-shirts and carrying the banner and placards I designed. Our existence is resistance. We will keep coming out, standing together and marching until everyone is free to celebrate who they truly are. And, hopefully, we’ll have quite a bit of fun while we’re doing it.🏳️‍🌈📣✊🏽🪧🏳️‍⚧️ #PrideInLondon #Pride2026 by @t4rdis

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5 days ago

Today is HIV Long-Term Survivors’ Awareness Day, and it also falls during Volunteers’ Week and Pride Month. I’ve been thinking a lot about the people who helped carry me through the early years after my HIV diagnosis.I was diagnosed in 2007. Nineteen years ago.I remember the uncertainty and the feeling that my life had somehow split into a “before” and an “after”.Over time I learned something important: surviving and thriving are not the same thing. Treatment – when I started – helped me to survive. But community helped me to cope and eventually to thrive.Some of the most important people in my life during those early years were volunteers and peer mentors living with HIV themselves. They listened to me and answered my questions. But, most importantly, they showed me that HIV did not mean the end of joy, intimacy or connection.I honestly don’t know who I would be today without those people.That’s why visibility matters so much to me now. It’s why amplifying the voices of people living with HIV matters. Because somewhere, somebody newly diagnosed, or who has disengaged from treatment, may be searching for proof that they can still have a future. Sometimes hope arrives not through a leaflet or a statistic, but through another person saying: “I’ve been there too.” After all, the H in HIV means human.This year I’ve been reflecting a lot on intergenerational HIV stories. Watching Pride the Musical and the Movie, thinking about @LGSMpride and queer solidarity. Sitting beside @JonathanBlake4921 stitching the U=U Community Quilt together. Watching Tip Toe this week and revisiting works like The Inheritance that remind us how much wisdom, grief and resilience travels between generations of queer people.We carry each other forward. Today I’m especially grateful to every HIV peer mentor, volunteer, activist and support worker who helps transform isolation into community.You do more than help people to survive. You help people to imagine how they can thrive.❤️‍🔥 #HLTSAD #VolunteersWeek #Pride #PeerSupport #UequalsU by @t4rdis

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2 months ago

❤️ A celebration of community ❤️A wonderful evening with friends at @PositiveEast for the U=U Community Quilt receptionI’m so proud to have been a small part of this extraordinary art and activism project: my photo was taken outside @Tate Modern after the private view of the display of @AIDSQuiltUK in the Turbine HallOver two years, the team at Positive East collected thousands of photos from around the world – from London to Sydney, Gaborone to Sacramento – to celebrate the U=U messageAcross nine community stitching sessions, 174 contributors, including me, dedicated more than 1,500 hours of stitching – very much ‘stitching’ in my case – to transform 4,000 photos into three expansive quilt panelsAs it says in the programme: the fight against HIV stigma remains a work in progress – and we can all make a difference!❤️‍🔥#UequalsU #HIV #HIVstigma by @t4rdis

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3 months ago

Three days with one shared goal: ending HIV stigma.Last Thursday, I volunteered at @NationalAIDSTrust’s Drag Raise, celebrating the incredible work NAT does to protect the rights of people living with HIV and drive down stigma.On Friday, @HarunTulunay from @PositivelyUK joined me to deliver a workshop at the @UNISONglr LGBT+ Training & Organising Day on the Unionising against HIV Stigma campaign, which I initiated within @UNISONtheunion in 2023. Together we explored how trade union activists can challenge HIV stigma in the workplace, support members living with HIV, and encourage employers to sign up to the HIV Confident charter mark.And yes… my glittery red Pride shorts were an essential part of my outfit for both events. Advocacy comes in many forms, but a little sparkle never hurts.Then today, on Zero HIV Stigma Day, I delivered a lunch and learn session for @kclUNISON, sharing my own journey of living with HIV for nearly 20 years and discussing why workplaces, trade unions and individuals all have a role to play in challenging stigma. I ended the day celebrating with @NazProjectLondon alongside so many inspiring advocates, including the wonderful Beatrice Nabulya from @AIDSHealthUK.Looking back across these three days, one thing really stands out: partnership. When we work together, we replace fear with facts, silence with conversations, and stigma with solidarity.As we celebrate 10 years of U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable), this year’s Zero HIV Stigma Day theme – Fact Over Fear – feels especially powerful. HIV has changed. It’s time stigma did too.💖✊🏽❤️‍🔥#ZeroHIVStigmaDay #ZHSD #UequalsU #EndHIVStigma by @t4rdis

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4 days ago

Happy @prideinlondon!I’ve dusted off the golden megaphone and I’ve laminated all our placards, and I am so looking forward to leading our group from @middlesexuniversity with the award-winning @chrissymrose in a few hours. You are so steadfast in your support and so deserving of Ally of the Year from @thequeerstudentawards.We’ll be marching alongside colleagues, students and friends of the University, including our siblings from @UNISONglr Middlesex University Branch, @impulselondon and @aidshealthuk – amazing to have them with us. Solidarity forever!I’ll also be thinking about colleagues and friends from @fasttrackcitiesldn and @positivelyuk who have this important life-affirming message – #UequalsU.Have an amazing day in the sunshine. If you spot us, give us a cheer!🏳️‍🌈📣🏳️‍⚧️ #Pride #PrideinLondon by @t4rdis

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22 days ago

As an affinity group of @ahfcares, we are always looking for ways to work together with @aidshealthuk and @flux_uk_ ♥️ Our members @alexvtrid @afjardine @t4rdis @jev.lar enjoyed learning how to conduct rapid tests for HIV, hep B and C, and syphilis in community venues A huge thanks to our AHF colleagues Loretta Wong, Michał Pawlęga and Beatrice Nabulya for being amazing trainers 🥰 We learned not only how to do the tests safely, but also about the importance of the conversation you have with the person who is testing, both before and afterwards, whatever the result One of our key Advocacy messages is encouraging people to get tested regularly: you can find a test as well as support – wherever you are in London – by following the links in our bio 📲 #hiv #hivtesting #hivawareness #hivprevention #hivadvocate by @t4rdis

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a month ago

I am in Brighton this week for the @UNISONtheunion National Delegate Conference – #UNDC26. It’s lovely to be back at the Brighton Centre, but rather than representing @MiddlesexUniversity at a UCAS fair, this time I am representing colleagues I work alongside.@ChrissyMRose – the best ally and colleague – is sharing our delegate seat with me. She’ll be leading our MDX group with me at @PrideInLondon for a second year and hopefully joining the trade union bloc once again to march at @LondonTransPride. Solidarity and allyship is about turning up – not just the once, but again and again.I’m keeping my fingers crossed I will get to speak at the rostrum about the HIV stigma campaign I initiated within our union with help from @UNISONglr colleagues back in 2023. We’ve come so far with our campaign since then, having developed an HIV in the workplace model policy with @NationalAIDSTrust.But this is just the beginning – we need to get that policy out to branches across the country and adopted by the employers they work with, which is why I’m back in Brighton, speaking to colleagues to get their help to take the campaign forward.As I hope I will get to say: “I stand here unashamed – and I’ll keep on keeping on until our movement understands that the fight against HIV stigma is not just an LGBT+ rights issue, but also a disability rights issue and a racial justice issue. It is a trade union issue. Together we have the power to make a huge difference.”At the weekend, I got to see Pride the Musical for a second time at the @NationalTheatre after having travelled to Cardiff to watch one of the @ShermanTheatre previews on Easter Monday. Read my reflections by following the link in my bio.Solidarity has the best songs.🏳️‍🌈✊🏽🏳️‍⚧️ #Pride #PrideMonth #PridetheMusical by @t4rdis

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a month ago

My name is Anthony Babajee FRSA. I’m 48 years old, and I’ve been living with HIV since 2007.Some conversations stay with you long after they end, and Ant’s story was one of them.He remembers receiving the phone call on the 2nd of January 2007 at 9:30am. Even before the words were spoken, he already knew. That moment has never left him.What struck me most was Ant’s honesty about the emotional reality of living with HIV.Yes, treatment heals your body, but it doesn’t automatically heal your soul.”While medication allows people to live long and healthy lives, stigma, fear, shame, and isolation can still remain long after diagnosis.Through peer support at the Terrence Higgins Trust, Ant found people who truly understood him, not only medically, but emotionally. Today, through his work in public health and advocacy, he continues to challenge stigma and outdated perceptions surrounding HIV.And perhaps his most powerful words are also the simplest:“You are still the same person you were yesterday. You just happen to have a virus.”#HIV #UequalsU #EndHIVStigma #PLHIVDocumentary #HIVAwareness by @t4rdis

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2 months ago

Our Director of Advocacy, @t4rdis, was in Liverpool last week attending the joint @britishhivassoc & @bashh_uk Conference, representing us as well as @positivelyuk and @nationalaidstrust. He’s a man with many hats in our community! So many important conversations took place around chems*x, community wellbeing, and reducing shame and stigma. We believe harm reduction must be rooted in compassion, lived experience and practical support, so that we have spaces where people feel able to talk honestly, seek help early, and access care without judgement. At the conference, Ant was proud to see the U=U Community Quilt on display. Created by @PositiveEast, the quilt brings together 4,000 photos from around the world, transformed through nine community stitching sessions and more than 1,500 hours of collective work. Ant’s own photo was taken outside Tate Modern after the private view of @aidsquiltuk in the Turbine Hall – a small part of a beautiful and moving piece of art and activism that celebrates the #UequalsU message and life with HIV. The fight against stigma remains a work in progress – and we all have a role to play ♥️ #bhiva #bashh #harmreduction #lgbthealth by @t4rdis

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3 months ago

Last Sunday at the @RVTofficial I got to spend the first afternoon of spring doing exactly what makes my heart full — building real-life connection and queer community. Our @ImpulseLondon Grind Date for 2026 was a lorra lorra laughs, on-stage shenanigans, and so many proper conversations where people looked up from their phones and actually chatted to each other.Huge, huge love to all of the Impulse team of volunteers — everyone who booked our performers, prepped resources, printed stickers, staffed the info table, held space on the day, and so much more. You did the work behind the scenes and on the floor, and it made that iconic queer space feel warm, safe and welcoming. I’m so very grateful for everything all of you did to make my first event as Director of Advocacy so memorable.We were proud to share harm-reduction resources from @TheLoveTankCIC and @GMHC_UK — their peer-led info was visible and vital. And a big welcome to @JustBenKaye, who we announced this week as Impulse’s first ambassador — so excited for what we’ll do together for harm reduction and community wellbeing.Some favourite moments: Ask Me About stickers sparking proper convos, photobooth mayhem, and people choosing connection over algorithms.Thank you so much to the team at the RVT for hosting us, and to everyone who came along, laughed and showed up for our community.Connection and community doesn’t just happen: we create it together.💖#GrindDate #ImpulseLondon by @t4rdis

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5 months ago

🎂💖 Thanks so much for your birthday wishesI am in Brum for my birthday treat: the world premiere performance of @TheBattlePlay – a comedy about the fight between @blurofficial and @oasis to be Top of the PopsI have a feeling this city dweller’s allegiance is abundantly clear, but I don’t look back in anger, at least not todayWoo-hoo! 🎸🎭#TheBattle #TheBattlePlay #oasisvsblur #blur by @t4rdis

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5 months ago

I’m honoured to be joined by Ryan Ah Seek for a special online event marking LGBT+ History Month and National Queer Students’ Day.In 2023, the Mauritius Supreme Court struck down Section 250, ending a colonial-era law that criminalised same-sex intimacy. Ryan’s victory changed lives — and sent a message across the world.“I am now free to love whoever I want to without fear… and the next generations can fully and freely embrace their sexuality.”— @the__only__ryanThis is personal for me. My Dad is from Mauritius, and I work at @MiddlesexUniversity London alongside our @MiddlesexUniMauritius campus. Please join us to learn more and celebrate this step towards equality.🗓 Thu 5 Feb 2026🕛 12:00 (GMT) / 16:00 (MUT)💻 Online (Teams)🔗 Link in bio to watchProud to partner with @TheQueerStudentAwards and hosted by @UNISONtheUnion Middlesex University Branch🏳️‍🌈✊🏽🇲🇺#QSD2026 #QSA2026 #LGBTHM2026 #LGBTplusHM by @t4rdis

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6 months ago