Drag Queen Ongina on What Being HIV-Positive Means Today

Ongina is the stage name of Ryan Ong Palao, a drag queen from Los Angeles, California, who participated in RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 1 but was eliminated during Episode 5, placing fifth overall in the popular reality competition. In May 2020, it was announced that she would compete in All Stars 5, where she placed 9th overall, being eliminated on Episode 2.

As far as being a drag queen, Ongina considers it an artistic expression and an outlet for a woman trapped in the body of a gay man. She sees drag life as a liberating way to perform and transform his image. In terms of acting, Ongina says that doing drag is about the energy, the creativity of choosing a song, an outfit, a hairstyle, makeup and performing on stage.

Ongina opens up about what it’s like being HIV positive

When referring to Ongina, we can’t forget about one of the most significant aspects of his career: Ongina lives with HIV, and speaking about it for the first time in RuPaul’s Drag Race was a life changer for the performer.

“I think the most defining moment in my life is when I revealed to the world my positive HIV status on RuPaul’s Drag Race. It was when I first told people that were outside my family and friends. I had just won the challenge on Episode 4, where we had to create a MAC Viva Glam campaign, and because of the work the campaign does to help people living with HIV/AIDS, I was overcome with emotions and shared my status. It was such a defining moment in my life because once the words came out of my mouth, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt free to live my life without holding back to letting people know who I am entirely,” Ongina told LATV. 

Having HIV might be scary. Even though there is plenty of information about HIV, how it is transmitted and how to protect yourself, very few people talk about what it is like to live with this disease.

Living with the virus does not mean you will never enjoy your life and relationships again. If you have HIV, not only are you not going to die from it, but you are also not necessarily going to become physically disabled either. Advances in treatment and healthcare have turned an HIV infection from a death sentence to a chronic condition, something that can be lived with and only needs to be managed.

Unfortunately, changes in the social perception of HIV have advanced much more slowly than science. HIV continues to be associated with fear: of possible death, rejection, judgment, the unknown, of uncertainty about the future. There is still a lot of ignorance and denial regarding the virus, along with the stigma about what it means to have it. If HIV can be controlled but remains a social problem, then it is society that has a problem.

The stigma associated with HIV today and in the past has been linked to social inequalities, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality and, in general, various taboos in different cultures. It has been socially constructed as a moral disease linked to intravenous drug use and “immoral” sexual behavior.

However, those who live with the virus are no longer sentenced to a life of inequality and violence. How each person lives with the disease depends on many things. Discovering that you have HIV is complex because in a certain way it forces you to confront yourself, your life and your decisions. But the virus is neither bad nor good; it’s the person’s choice to decide how it will affect them, positively or negatively. 

8 Fun facts about Ongina:

-Ongina was born in the Philippines and moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1994 when she was 12 years old.

-After living in Seattle, Ongina moved to New York City at age 19, where he ended up working at “Lucky Chengs,” an Asian restaurant where customers are entertained by drag queens. She worked there with Laverne Cox.

-Ongina has two dogs named “Little Monster” and “Iggy,” a cat named “Athena” and a guinea pig named “Hamlin.”

-Ongina normally doesn’t wear wigs except on certain occasions. She is the first queen not to wear a wig on the main stage.

-Ongina loves to collect headdresses and hats and prefers to wear them instead of wigs. She even gets some from his fans.

-RuPaul’s single “LadyBoy” was inspired by Ongina.

-Ongina is the first contestant to receive positive reviews but not win the challenge, and the first contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race to win two main challenges. Shee was also the first queen to achieve fifth place and the first HIV-positive queen of the show. 

-Ongina was shortlisted for all the All-Stars seasons, but she didn’t make the final cast in any of them. However, she was chosen for All-Stars 5. She is the first person to be voted out unanimously.