Proudly
PrEP'D
Embrace all that you are and be proud of your journey.
Join 4 queer voices as they share their stories of identity, resilience, and self-discovery.
Community Members Featured:
Rodrigo
Patient since 2023
Lucy
Patient since 2022
Christian
Patient since 2023
Rohith
Patient since 2023
Proudly PrEP’D
Queer Immigrant Stories
The PrEP Clinic’s Proudly PrEP’d Pride campaign shares real stories from queer immigrants in Toronto navigating identity, Pride, sexual health, and PrEP care.
Through their experiences, one message becomes clear: sexual healthcare should feel accessible, respectful, and judgment-free.
Home, Identity, and Starting Over
For many queer immigrants, home can be loving and complicated at the same time.
It can be family, food, music, holidays, and community. It can also come with silence, expectation, and pressure to hide parts of yourself.
Roy describes that feeling clearly:
“There were a lot of things I kept to myself.”
Lucy offers another way to understand home after migration:
“Home isn’t where you’re born at but where you feel the most comfortable in.”
For Rodrigo, moving to Canada gave him space to understand himself more deeply as a gay man. For Christian, Canada offered a new beginning and a diverse community that helped him grow.
Starting over does not erase where someone comes from. But it can create space to feel more seen, more accepted, and more free.
Pride and the Power of Being Seen
Pride means something different to everyone. A celebration, a journey, a moment of reflection, or a reminder of how far we’ve come.
For Rodrigo, Pride means living authentically without fear or shame. For Christian, his first Pride in Canada reminded him that everyone deserves to feel seen, valued, and accepted. For Lucy, seeing Pride in downtown Toronto opened her eyes to new possibilities around self-acceptance and love.
Roy’s story shows how visibility can change over time. His first Pride was in India in 2019, where he avoided cameras because he did not want to be seen by the media. Years later, he is now sharing his story openly.
As Roy puts it, Pride is about:
“Being able to show up as yourself and not feel like you have to hide parts of who you are.”
Pride is not only about being visible. It is about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be seen.
Why Sexual Health Can Feel Hard to Talk About
For many queer immigrants, conversations about sexual health can come with fear, stigma, or uncertainty.
Maybe HIV, STIs, testing, or PrEP were topics that were never openly discussed.
Rodrigo says:
“Talking about STIs or HIV was highly stigmatized.”
Roy reflects on growing up without open conversations about sexual health, sharing his experience with honesty and humour:
“You kind of just figure things out and hope for the best. Which is not a healthcare strategy, by the way.”
Lucy also shares that even routine moments, like getting blood work or picking up medication, could feel uncomfortable when stigma or judgment were present.
When sexual health is surrounded by shame or stigma, people may stay quiet. When care feels judgmental, people may delay seeking support.
That is why safe, welcoming care matters.
What Care Can Feel Like
Each person found The PrEP Clinic in their own way. Some were referred by friends. Some searched online. Some were looking to start PrEP. Others were simply looking for peace of mind.
What stood out was not just the service, it was the feeling of being welcomed, respected, and supported.
Rodrigo describes his experience at the clinic as warm and welcoming:
“It feels like a family.”
Christian felt respected, supported, and comfortable having open conversations about his health.
Roy appreciated that nobody talked down to him or made him feel embarrassed.
Lucy describes The PrEP Clinic as:
“A safe haven.”
For someone who has experienced stigma or fear around sexual health, that kind of care can make a real difference.
PrEP Is More Than a Prescription
PrEP is an important tool for HIV prevention, but PrEP care can also mean confidence, routine support, and peace of mind.
For Rodrigo, sexual health is connected to community care:
“Taking care of my sexual health is also a way of taking care of my community.”
For Roy, being on PrEP has become part of his personal growth:
“If I can confidently talk about getting blood work done every three months, I’ve clearly experienced personal growth.”
For queer immigrants and others who may have grown up around silence or stigma, being able to talk openly about PrEP, testing, and sexual health can be empowering.
It means feeling informed.
It means feeling supported.
It means knowing where to go when you have questions.
Why These Stories Matter
Our Proudly PrEP’d stories are personal, but the themes are bigger.
They reflect experiences many queer immigrants may recognize: carrying pieces of home with them, finding community, navigating Pride, learning about PrEP, and searching for healthcare where they feel safe and supported.
Representation matters because someone reading this may see their own story reflected.
They may remember hiding parts of themselves.
They may remember feeling unsure with questions.
They may remember searching for PrEP and where to start.
These stories are a reminder that no one should have to navigate their sexual health journey alone.
Everyone deserves care that is accessible, respectful, and without judgment.
Promote sexual health and PrEP by sharing:
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- For the community. By the community. Ontario’s only LGBTQ+ owned and operated online PrEP service. With full-service in-person clinics in Toronto, Brampton, and Ottawa too!
- Fighting barriers for all. PrEP services are FREE at our in-person locations - even without a health card. This includes: assessments, complete lab tests, STI treatment, and sexual health vaccines for our patients taking PrEP tablets
- We speak your language. With care providers offering services in: Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin, Farsi, Gujarati, Hindi, Edo, French, Arabic, Tamil, Twi/Akan, Punjabi and English.
- The team that gives back. Since opening, we have donated over $120,000 to 2SLGBTQ+ organizations across Ontario.
- Save the most on PrEP. No insurance or only partial coverage? Connect with us. Most pay $0 with PrEPSaver.
