How Jonathan Van Ness Became a Role Model

I'm a huge Queer Eye fan.

I follow all five of the current #FabFive on Twitter (except for #KaramoBrown, who left Twitter amid backlash he received following comments he made regarding #SeanSpicer). I've seen all four seasons of Queer Eye repeatedly on Netflix; it's my second favorite show to watch to unwind after RuPaul's Drag Race, and I've seen several appearances made by Tan (France, fashion expert), Antoni (Porowski, food expert), Karamo (culture expert), Bobby (design expert) and Jonathan (Van Ness, grooming expert) on various talk shows. I love the group's chemistry and how genuinely invested they are in their "heroes." I also love the genuine affection they all seem to have for one another; in a world which sometimes feels as though it's gotten exceedingly negative, seeing these five men being open to their experiences and to how they feel about each other is just something really powerful to witness.

I have, of late, been following Jonathan Van Ness' evolution from cheerful—and fabulous—grooming expert to role model. For those who don't know, Van Ness fairly recently became an author with his book #OverTheTop, joining the rank of members of the Queer Eye team who has published a book; I believe the one member of the Fab Five who has yet to write anything for a book is Bobby. What I find has been particularly unique about Van Ness' experience with writing and promoting his book is that he very openly comes out with the information that he has been living with HIV/AIDS.

I'll admit that at first, the news stunned me, in spite of having known the statistics and being familiar with the campaign that U=U (Undetectable=Untransmittable). I was a youth in the 1980s when the AIDS virus appeared to have first hit, and in spite of there being some very public faces associated with the disease, it was scary knowing that people you knew from television and sports—your heroes—could get this disease.

Van Ness could have very easily avoided sharing this news altogether. He could have laid low, carried on with balancing his personal and professional lives and continued just being absolutely fabulous and no one would have known the difference. However, he didn't. He chose what could have been a more difficult path and leaned into the discomfort, simply because he knew his words could help those in the same position he found himself in all those years ago.

I'm not saying the choice was easy for Van Ness. I could only imagine how challenging the process was in both writing his story and sharing something so deeply personal as an HIV-positive diagnosis. However, he chose the path he's currently on to help others, and for that, I applaud him.

I also admire Van Ness for the way he's absolutely embraced the fact that he is now a role model for countless individuals, for those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community and those who don't as well as those who might be dealing with a fresh diagnosis of being HIV+. He might have lived a few lifetimes' worth of trauma in his 32 years on the planet, and he has been open about that. He has, however, shown that while you might first engage in self-destructive behaviors from trauma, it is possible to overcome them and rebuild your life into something positive that you can be proud of.

He has, like the rest of his Queer Eye peers, embraced a life where he lives authentically and encourages others to do the same. I will probably never have the opportunity to meet Jonathan Van Ness, but I am proud of the fact that he is showing the world you can move past the harshness in life into something that surrounds you with love and peace.