Atlanta’s LGBT community and allies gathered in Historic Fourth Ward Park Monday night for a vigil in honor of World AIDS Day.
The event, put on by the Atlanta Coalition for LGBTQ Youth and hosted by Rig Rush, included performances by the Westlake High School marching band, DJ Crizis, dance troupe Trio Collective, spoken word performers from the Justen Southwest Performance Arts Center, singer Red, interpretive dance and vocal group the Brown Dance Project and drummer Sarah Wilson. World AIDS Day – Atlanta co-chairs were Emily Halden Brown and Jacquel Clemons.
Following the performances was a reading of names of the city’s younger population who have lost their lives due to AIDS-related complications.
The event follows recent announcements by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling Georgia’s HIV prevention efforts “sad and alarming” and showing that only 30 percent of those living with HIV in America have got the virus under control.
