Travii Aiko’s journey: Overcoming adversity, embracing forgiveness, and thriving in the ballroom scene

& Travii Aiko, 30 (above), a native Chicagoan, dancer, and community health outreach worker was raised on the city’s South Side and now lives and works in Atlanta. Photo by Kerri Phox/The Atlanta Voice Eight years have passed since Atlanta resident& Travii Aiko, 30, a native Chicagoan, dancer, and community health outreach worker raised on the city’s South Side, noticed his health was declining. In 2017, Aiko experienced night sweats, vomiting, and dramatic weight loss, which were contributing factors to a life that had begun to spiral two years earlier for Aiko after being outed as gay in church and subsequently unhoused.& Uprooted, Outed, & Diagnosed In the Spring of 2015, Aiko’s entire livelihood took a wild turn. “One day, I was called up to the front of the church, and [the pastor] said over the mic, ‘Until God releases those demonic homosexual spirits from you, you can no longer serve in the church,'” Aiko, who led the church’s praise dance ministry and is nonbinary, recalls.& A meeting between Aiko and church leadership led to further interrogation where they asked them if they were gay, to which Aiko answered yes. “At that moment, I felt more forced out,” Aiko said....