About Us → News & Events Stigma Warrior: Meet Kevin

Meet today's Stigma Warrior:

Hi, I’m Kevin Chadwin Davis. I’m 30 years old and originally from Mineola, a small town in East Texas. I grew up surrounded by stigma, poverty, and violence. I lost my mom, brother, and sister to domestic violence when I was just three years old. I was bullied for being gay, isolated for being different, and told I didn’t belong. I turned to sex work to survive and escape. That experience shaped not only my survival—but my purpose.

Today, my work centers around building bridges between the issues that are too often treated separately: HIV prevention, harm reduction, sex work decriminalization, climate justice, and LGBTQIA+ liberation. I believe deeply in cross-sectoral collaboration because our lives do not exist in silos—what impacts one system inevitably impacts another. I’ve seen how overlapping systems of stigma can keep people from care, resources, and safety. My advocacy is about breaking down those barriers by showing up fully, speaking truth to power, and helping communities move from survival to self-determination.

It’s important to stand up to stigma and discrimination because stigma doesn’t just hurt—it isolates, erases, and kills. I’ve experienced what it feels like to be excluded from spaces that were supposed to protect and uplift me, simply because of how I survived. Stigma convinced me, for a time, that I didn’t deserve to be part of the HIV movement I was pouring myself into. And it nearly cost me my life. Standing up to stigma means refusing to let shame write our stories. It means creating room for truth—even when it’s uncomfortable. I speak up because I know what it’s like to feel invisible, and I never want someone else to feel that same kind of silence. Every time we challenge stigma, we create space for someone else to breathe easier.


I fight stigma by refusing to hide. I speak honestly about my past—about sex work, trauma, addiction, recovery—not because I owe anyone an explanation, but because I know that stories like mine still scare people. And that’s exactly why they need to be heard. I use my voice, my art, and my lived experience to disrupt narratives that have kept people like me out of the room. Whether I’m leading a training, sitting on a panel, or painting in my loft, I remind people that healing isn’t about perfection—it’s about presence. My power comes from showing up fully, even when I’ve been told I shouldn’t.

My advice to anyone facing stigma and discrimination within their community is that you don’t have to prove your worth to anyone—you already have it. The world may try to make you feel small, but your truth is not too much. It’s exactly enough. My advice is to find the people who see you, not just tolerate you. Pour into the parts of yourself that were told they didn’t matter. Hug the version of you that was just trying to survive. You are allowed to take up space. You are allowed to be complicated and still be good. And you don’t owe anyone a watered-down version of who you are.