8 Working Gay Porn Performers Living With HIV

Rocco Steele

The heavily awarded performer boasts not only a bustling fan site business, but also has his own growing underwewar company 10Seven, a collaborative lube brand dubbed Ride Rocco, as well as a collaborative line of toys called Rocco by Perfect Fit. This year, he even launched the second season of his YouTube series, "Just Oral." In addition, Rocco has long been open about his status. 

When Charlie Sheen came out as living with HIV in 2015, Steele was on hand giving interviews and helping to educate the masses. He speaks often online about being undetectable, a status he achieved a month after being diagnosed and has maintained since 2012.

Boomer Banks

Having gotten his start in the adult industry in 2013, Boomer Banks has done it all. He’s started a porn family of sorts with children like Beaux, Calvin, and Brock Banks. As we detail in a 2020 cover story, Banks also pursued his career as a fashion designer and used his platform to talk about important social issues. Of those issues, he’s consistently fought against stigma aimed at those living with HIV.

In our cover story, Banks explained that he was diagnosed in 2001 and prior to getting into the adult industry, worked as a vocal HIV activist.

Brock Banks

Though he's fresh on the scene, having made his studio debut in 2019, Brock Banks has made a splash. He's racked up award nominations and wins, and has been traversing the globe in a porn career that's been blessed. He counts Boomer Banks, from whom he pulled his name, as one of his parents in the industry but Austin Wolf also provided advice.

But, since he began, Brock has been open about his status and spoken out about how those who are undetectable are treated in the industry. In an interview with Plus, he explained that because so many studios have straight staffers behind the camera, they aren't as educated when it comes to U=U and other sexual health statistics.

Kayden Gray

Born in Poland, Kayden Gray got his start in the U.K.’s porn scene back in 2013. He made an outsized name for himself working for some of the largest studios, exclusively doing scenes featuring condoms. In a moving video posted to YouTube in 2017, he told his fans that he had been living with HIV for the three years prior and opened up about how stigma led him to stop having sex for months after being diagnosed.

This year, Gray filmed his first condomless scene in a project he wrote that was meant to serve as a public service announcement for the Undetectable = Untransmittable campaign. He has gone on to structure his releases in ways that will educate fans and viewers about sexual health and STIs in a project called Kayden Unwrapped.

Jacen Zhu

Throughout his career, Jacen Zhu has scene adult entertainment as a venue to have conversations with consumers. He started doing studio work in 2016, but launched on fan sites like JustForFans in order to “be more open about HIV issues.” He’s posed as a spokesmodel for the D.C. PrEP Squad campaign, and in 2018 even launched a campaign of his own called #TakedownTina aimed at addressing crystal meth usage. He's even spoken out about problematic studios and habits he's seen in the industry. All of this while managing his career as an out performer living with HIV.

Zhu said he was diagnosed at age 16 in 2005 by his physician who thought he might have leukemia at the time. After being given an AIDS diagnosis at age 19, he went on medication and has maintained an undetectable status since.

Teddy Torres

Two-time GayVN Award winner, Teddy Torres hails from France but lives in Montreal. The married performer began his career in 2016 but outside of the industry works as a hairdresser — he previously worked for L’Oreal.

While his career started in order to fulfill a specific fantasy he had in mind, he says that he continues his career to show that those living with HIV can work despite the virus.

Nick Fitt

American performer Nick Fitt started in the adult industry win the mid oughts, doing a series of scenes. Then, after a decade hiatus, Fitt returned as not only a performer working with studios like Icon Male, but also an agent of change.

He’s served as a board member of PASS, the industry’s STD testing program, and alongside multiple nonprofits in sexual health advocacy for underserved communities. He has been undetectable since 2006 and has been pushing conversations within the industry about treatment of undetectable performers.

John Thomas

John Thomas started doing porn in 2017, kicking his career off with TimTales. While he had always been open to those working in the industry, as fans began to message him about HIV and sexual health given he was filming some scenes without condoms, he decided to “come out” as living with the virus in order to raise awareness. Since, in addition to winning awards for his onscreen work, he’s begun to work with organizations like 56 Dean Street and even Terrence Higgins Trust on a variety of sexual health campaigns.