stigma

Gareth Thomas has opened up about some of the horrific abuse he has faced from strangers on the street. 

Back in 2019, the former Welsh rugby captain revealed that he was HIV-positive after a tabloid threatened to out his status.

“Now that you have that information, it makes me extremely vulnerable, but it does not make me weak,” he said in a video uploaded on X/Twitter. “I choose to fight to educate and break the stigma around this subject.”

Since that fateful day, Thomas has fervently used his platform to shatter misconceptions and debunk harmful myths about the condition, earning praise from fans, LGBTQIA+ organisations and other advocacy groups.

But despite his incredible contributions to the rugby world, queer community and HIV/AIDS awareness, the 51-year-old has continued to experience hate from bigoted trolls.

During a recent appearance on Bryony Gordon’s The Life of Bryony podcast, Thomas recalled a harrowing interaction he had with “two young lads” who spat on him on the street.

“I won’t sit here and be big guy and say it doesn’t hurt. So the two young lads who walked past spat at me and called me an AIDS spreader,” he recalled.

However, instead of hurling his own set of insults or getting physical, Thomas killed the two individuals with kindness.

“I just stopped, and I opened up my arms. So they walked past me. One spat at my chest, one spat at my feet. They walked past me, they waited for a reaction, and I just opened up my arms, and it kind of put them off because that was completely different,” he continued.

“And then they started calling me names. I was like, ‘Do you want a hug?’ And they were like, ‘We’re not going to have a hug off you. You got effing AIDS.’ And I’m like, ‘Do you want to hug, boys? Do you want to hug?’”

The talented athlete went on to say that he walked away from the interaction feeling that he had won, adding that they wanted an angry reaction from him.

“They wanted confirmation that I was a bad person. And I refused to give the confirmation that I was a bad person,” he continued. 

Elsewhere in his interview, Thomas opened up about the discrimination his loved ones and friends have faced, simply because they are associated with him.

“[My husband] Steve is HIV negative, but he’s a teacher in college, right? He’s a brilliant teacher. It’s difficult for him at times because he’s afraid of the stigma that might come from the students within the college,” he revealed.

Thomas also revealed that his parents have faced pushback, stating that people once knew them as the parents of ‘Gareth, the Welsh rugby player.” However, now they are known as “the mother and father of the guy who’s got HIV.”

“So, the stigma that comes with the association of being open and wanting to be authentic in a certain way, but thinking that will last. Will that stigma disappear for me the day after I talk about my HIV virus because I got nothing to hide anymore,” he said.

“The reality is the day after is when the shit begins, right? It’s when it starts because you’ve opened yourself up, you’ve made yourself vulnerable.”

In addition to his status, the legendary talent discussed being an ‘agony aunt’ for closeted sports players and gushed about his husband’s longstanding support.

Check out Thomas’ full podcast interview here.

Singapore – On a weekday afternoon in the heart of the central business district, the BYD showroom on Robinson Road is a picture of futuristic cool.

Inside, sleek electric cars gleam under bright white lights as young professionals drift through the space.

Just a short walk away, diners mingle in a BYD-branded restaurant over craft beer and bar bites in a chic, members’ club-like setting – one of several lifestyle ventures the Chinese electric vehicle giant has rolled out across Singapore.

It is a scene that reflects a larger shift.

Once seen as cheap and functional at best, Chinese brands are fast becoming desirable – even aspirational – among Singapore’s middle class.

Shenzhen-based BYD was by far the top-selling carmaker in the city-state in the first half of 2025.

The EV maker sold almost 4,670 cars – about 20 percent of total vehicle sales – during the period, according to government data, compared with about 3,460 vehicles sold by second-ranked Toyota.

Many other Chinese brands have also made major inroads, from the tea chain Chagee to toymaker Pop Mart and electronics maker Xiaomi, shaping how Singaporeans work, rest and play.

Singapore and Malaysia had the biggest concentration of Chinese food and beverage brands in Southeast Asia last year, according to the research firm Momentum Works, with 32 China-based firms operating 184 outlets in the city-state as of June 2024.

At the same time, Chinese tech firms, including ByteDance, Alibaba Cloud and Tencent, have chosen Singapore for their regional bases.

Healthcare worker Thahirah Silva, 28, said she used to be wary of the “Made in China” label, but shifted her perspective after a visit to the country last year.

“They’re very self-sufficient. They have their own products and don’t need to rely on international brands, and the quality was surprisingly reliable,” Silva told Al Jazeera.

These days, Silva regularly samples Chinese food brands, often after seeing particular dishes or snacks taking off on social media.

Compared with Japanese or Korean brands, she said, Chinese chains are “creative, quick to innovate and set food trends”, though she admits it sometimes feels like they are “taking over” from local brands.

“Somehow, it made me feel there won’t be much difference visiting China, since so many of their brands are already here”, she said.

For younger Singaporeans, the old stigmas around products “made in China” are fading, said Samer Elhajjar, senior lecturer at the marketing department of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Business School.

“Many of these brands are now perceived as cool, modern and emotionally in tune with what young consumers want. They feel local and global at the same time,” Elhajjar told Al Jazeera.

“You can walk into a Chagee and feel like you are part of a new kind of aesthetic culture: clean design, soft lighting, calming music. It is not selling a product. It is selling a feeling.”

Moulded by China’s hyper-competitive e-commerce landscape, Chinese companies have been especially adept at rolling out digitally savvy marketing strategies, Elhajjar said.

“These brands are now playing the same emotional game that legacy Western brands have mastered for decades,” he said.

Singapore, where about three-quarters of the population is ethnic Chinese, is an especially attractive testbed for Chinese brands looking to expand overseas, according to analysts.

Doris Ho, who led a brand consultancy in Greater China from 2010 to 2022, said that Chinese brands have been able to succeed in Singapore with a bold, creative approach to innovation that appeals to local sensibilities.

This “new China edge”, Ho said, shows up in BYD features, such as built-in fridges and spacious, fold-flat interiors that can be used for sleeping, and hotpot chain Haidilao’s extravagant hospitality, which sees customers treated to live music performances, shoeshines, hand massages and manicures.

“When they innovate, they don’t follow the same lines you’d expect. It’s their way of looking at something and coming out with a completely surprising answer,” Ho told Al Jazeera.

For Chinese brands, Singapore offers “a sandbox with real stakes” as a compact, ethically diverse and globally-connected market, Elhajjar said.

Because Singapore is seen as sophisticated, efficient and forward-looking, success in the city-state “sends a powerful message”, he said.

The rise of Chinese brands has coincided with Singapore’s growing reliance on China’s economy.

China has been Singapore’s largest trading partner since 2013, with bilateral trade in goods last year reaching $170.2bn.

As Western firms scaled back or paused expansion, Chinese brands moved in, with many effectively propping up Singapore’s property sector and entrenching themselves in the country, said Alan Chong, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

Singapore’s government has also actively courted Chinese firms amid the uncertainty from US President Donald Trump’s arrival on the geopolitical scene, Chong said.

“You see the positive image of the United States slipping quite consistently,” Chong told Al Jazeera.

“The US has acted in a miserly, resentful sort of way with ongoing trade tariffs, whereas China remains a factory of the world – seen as an economic benefactor – so there will be a swing in terms of looking at China favourably.”

Chong said that Singapore has also become a virtual second home for some middle-class Chinese nationals, many of whom own property in the city-state.

Singaporean universities have also made a concerted effort to attract Chinese students, with some even introducing programmes taught in Mandarin Chinese.

In a report released earlier this year by China’s Ministry of Education and the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, Singapore was ranked the second-most popular destination for Chinese students after the United Kingdom.

Some analysts have observed the rise of “born-again Chinese” (BAC) – people of Chinese descent outside China, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, who embrace a strong pro-China identity, despite limited cultural or linguistic ties.

Donald Low, a lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has defined so-called BACs as those who adopt an “idealised, romanticised” idea of a China that is “inevitably rising” and “stands heroically against a hegemonic West”.

The success of Chinese brands in Singapore has not been without some pushback.

Some Singapore residents have felt alienated by stores that operate mainly in Mandarin Chinese, Elhajjar said, given that the city-state has one of the world’s largest immigrant populations, as well as large minorities of native-born Malays and Indians.

There have also been concerns raised about homegrown brands being priced out of the market by the arrival of large firms with deep pockets.

Rising rents resulted in the closure of 3,000 F&B businesses in 2024, the highest number since 2005, Channel NewsAsia reported in January.

In a recent white paper, the Singapore Tenants United for Fairness, a cooperative representing more than 700 business owners, called for curbs on “new and foreign players”.

Leong Chan-Hoong, the head of the RSIS Social Cohesion Research programme, cautioned against blaming Chinese enterprises for social tensions or rising rents, describing the inroads made by some brands as part of the natural cycle of a market-driven economy.

“As a global city-state, we are always at the forefront of such transitions,” Leong told Al Jazeera.

Indeed, for many residents in Singapore, the growing presence of Chinese brands is simply an unremarkable part of daily life.

Ly Nguyen, a 29-year-old Vietnamese migrant working in tech sales, said she started collecting Labubu, the globally popular gremlin-like toys created by Pop Mart, after being captivated by their “ugly but fun” aesthetic.

“Labubu represents independent creativity and a newfound confidence in Chinese-designed memorabilia,” Nguyen told Al Jazeera.

For Nguyen, the popularity of Labubu dolls, which have been spotted with celebrities such as Rihanna and BLACKPINK’s Lisa, points to a generational shift in how Chinese cultural exports are viewed.

“The more familiar people become with these brands, the more likely younger generations will have a new, much more favourable perception towards China as a cultural power,” she said.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A video showing dozens of people marching toward the office of Haiti’s prime minister elicited gasps from some viewers as it circulated recently on social media. The protesters, who are HIV-positive, did not conceal their faces — a rare occurrence in a country where the virus is still heavily stigmatized.

“Call the minister of health! We are dying!” the group chanted.

The protesters risked being shunned by society to warn that Haiti is running out of HIV medication just months after the Trump administration slashed more than 90% of the United States Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall aid across the globe.

At a hospital near the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Dr. Eugene Maklin said he struggles to share that reality with his more than 550 HIV patients.

“It’s hard to explain to them, to tell them that they’re not going to find medication,” he said. “It’s like a suicide.”

‘We can’t stay silent’

More than 150,000 people in Haiti have HIV or AIDS, according to official estimates, although nonprofits believe the number is much higher.

David Jeune, a 46-year-old hospital community worker, is among them. He became infected 19 years ago after having unprotected sex.

“I was scared to let people know because they would point their finger at you, saying you are infecting others with AIDS,” he said.

His fear was so great that he didn’t tell anyone, not even his mother. But that fear dissipated with the support Jeune said he received from nonprofit groups. His confidence grew to the point where he participated in last week’s protest.

“I hope Trump will change his mind,” he said, noting that his medication will run out in November. “Let the poor people get the medication they need.”

Patrick Jean Noel, a representative of Haiti’s Federation of Assns. of HIV, said that at least five clinics, including one that served 2,500 patients, were forced to close after the USAID funding cuts.

“We can’t stay silent,” he said. “More people need to come out.”

But most people with HIV in Haiti are reluctant to do so, said Dr. Sabine Lustin, executive director of the Haiti-based nonprofit Promoters of Zero AIDS Goal.

The stigma is so strong that many patients are reluctant to pick up their medication in person. Instead, it is sent in packages wrapped as gifts so as to not arouse suspicion, she said.

Lustin’s organization, which helps some 2,000 people across Haiti, receives funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though its funding hasn’t been cut, she said that shortly after President Trump took office in January, the agency banned HIV prevention activities because they targeted a group that is not a priority — which she understood to be referring to gay men.

That means the organization can no longer distribute up to 200,000 free condoms a year or educate people about the disease.

“You risk an increase in infections,” she said. “You have a young population who is sexually active who can’t receive the prevention message and don’t have access to condoms.”

‘That can’t be silenced’

On the sunny morning of May 19, a chorus of voices drowned out the din of traffic in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, growing louder as protesters with HIV marched defiantly toward the prime minister’s office.

“We are here to tell the government that we exist, and we are people like any other person,” one woman told reporters.

Another marching alongside her said, “Without medication, we are dying. This needs to change.”

Three days after the protest, the leader of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, Louis Gérald Gilles, announced that he had met with activists and would try to secure funding.

Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations across Haiti are fretting.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Marie Denis-Luque, founder and executive director of CHOAIDS, a nonprofit that cares for Haitian orphans with HIV/AIDS. “We only have medication until July.”

Her voice broke as she described her frantic search for donations for the orphans, who are cared for by HIV-positive women in Cap-Haitien after gang violence forced them to leave Port-au-Prince.

Denis-Luque said she has long advocated for the orphans’ visibility.

“We can’t keep hiding these children. They are part of society,” she said, adding that she smiled when she saw the video of last week’s protest. “I was like, whoa, things have changed tremendously. The stigma is real, but I think what I saw … was very encouraging to me. They can’t be silenced.”

A dangerous combination

Experts say Haiti could see a rise in HIV infections because medications are dwindling at a time that gang violence and poverty are surging.

Dr. Alain Casseus, infectious-disease division chief at Zanmi Lasante, the largest nongovernmental healthcare provider in Haiti, said he expected to see a surge in patients given the funding cuts, but that hasn’t happened because traveling by land in Haiti is dangerous since violent gangs control main roads and randomly open fire on vehicles.

He warned that abruptly stopping medication is dangerous, especially because many Haitians do not have access or cannot afford nutritious food to strengthen their immune system.

“It wouldn’t take long, especially given the situation in Haiti, to enter a very bad phase,” he said of HIV infections. And even if some funding becomes available, a lapse in medication could cause resistance to it, he said.

Casseus said gang violence also could accelerate the rates of infection by rapes or other physical violence as medication runs out.

At the New Hope Hospital run by Maklin in Haiti’s northern region, shelves are running empty. He used to receive more than $165,000 a year to help HIV/AIDS patients. But that funding has dried up.

“Those people are going to die,” he said. “We don’t know how or where we’re going to get more medication.”

The medication controls the infection and allows many to have an average life expectancy. Without it, the virus attacks a person’s immune system and they develop AIDS, the late stage of an HIV infection.

Reaction is swift when Maklin tells his patients that in two months, the hospital won’t have any HIV medication left.

“They say, ‘No, no, no, no!’” he said. “They want to keep living.”

Coto and Sanon write for the Associated Press and reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Port-au-Prince, respectively.