20th annual AIDS Walk Atlanta brings thousands together to raise funds in the fight against the disease
Our photographers were all over Atlanta this weekend, covering the Little Five Points Halloween Parade and the Atlanta AIDS Walk.
HIV researchers from across the globe gathered in Atlanta during the last week of September to share their findings in the worldwide search for an effective HIV vaccine.
AIDS Vaccine 2010 is the only international conference for HIV vaccine researchers. This year’s conference was organized largely by Emory University; AIDS Vaccine 2011 will take place in Thailand.
The conference had over 1,000 attendees from 47 countries. Most were scientists who are working on different ideas on how to prevent the spread of HIV. Not advertised to the public at large, much of the information presented was highly technical in nature.
The 20th annual AIDS Walk Atlanta steps off Sunday, Oct. 17, from Piedmont Park, drawing thousands to raise funds for 10 local AIDS service organizations.
“The AIDS Walk is a critical piece of most of the organizations … it certainly is for AID Atlanta. It’s a critical part of our fight against AIDS as a community,” says Tracy Elliott, executive director of AID Atlanta, which puts on the walk.
This year’s event hopes to raise $900,000 after bringing in $875,000 in 2009.
Halloween will be in full swing at the Carnevale Four Seasons costume gala at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 22. This gala is a major fundraiser for Jerusalem House, a non-profit that assists people living with HIV.
“The costume contest is always fun with cash and prizes for the winners,” says Alex Wan, director of development for Jerusalem House and also the only openly gay member of the Atlanta City Council. “We have celebrity guest judges this year. I am thrilled to have the support of my colleague, Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell. Also judging will be WSB-TV weekend anchors John Bachman and Linda Stouffer.”
In addition to the costume contest there will also be raffle drawings at the party. Up for grabs are a weekend in New York City, a private dinner for eight catered by Tony Conway, a week in Costa Rica, an event in a private box at Phillips Arena, a wine collection and a stay in the mountains. The tickets are $10 each or three for $25. Those tickets are available for purchase online at www.JerusalemHouse.org.
User Insight is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for a study on a new AIDS prevention website currently in development. The study is taking place on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at User Insight’s Sandy Springs offices and should take a little more than an hour to complete.
Gay Hispanic men who complete the survey will be given $80 for their time.
Craig Washington, 50, says being a face of the 20th annual AIDS Walk Atlanta is “poetic.”
“I think there’s something very poetic … there’s an arc of growth and change to come from 25 years ago in the summer of ’85, being terrified and somewhat ashamed,” he says.
“And just operating on faith but not a lot of evidence and not wanting or willing to have anyone know that I was positive, to lending my name and my image as being openly HIV positive,” he adds. “It speaks a lot of how, not so much how much I’ve grown or changed, but also how the society I’m a part of has changed. … That to a certain extent has made room for me to do that.”
19
Percent of gay men who have HIV in 21 major American cities
44
Percent of those gay men with HIV who do not know it
28
Percent of black gay and bi men who are HIV positive, compared to 18 percent of Hispanic and 16 percent of white men
63
Percent of HIV-positive men under 30 in the study who did not know their status
After going over data for HIV cases in Georgia at her new job with the state Department of Community Health, Leisha McKinley-Beach said she knew something specific needed to be done at the state level to address the high numbers of gay and bisexual men contracting the virus.
“I started work in February and after going over the data of HIV cases, I saw it was disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men,” said McKinley-Beach, HIV prevention program manager for the state Department of Community Health.
So McKinley-Beach and the state’s HIV Unit of the Division of Public Health formed a task force of gay men and came up with a 12-month plan called “Taking Control,” designed to address the needs of gay and bisexual men in a language and way that resonates with them.
On Sept. 27, we commemorated the third annual National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, an opportunity not only to reflect on the impact HIV has had on gay and bisexual men in the United States, but also an opportunity to act.
President Obama recently released a National HIV/AIDS Strategy that prioritizes the needs of gay and bisexual men as a group that continues to be hard-hit by the disease, and the message is clear — we must re-energize the fight.
Although it has been nearly 30 years since the first reported cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men, HIV remains a crisis that is far from over in this community.
AID Atlanta hosts HIV/AIDS benefit concert tonight at Actor's Express