GAY CITY NEWS: World AIDS Day events planned in New York City
Events will be taking place in New York City to mark World AIDS Day, which is commemorated annually on Dec. 1 to bring awareness to HIV/AIDS internationally, acknowledge those living with HIV/AIDS, and pay tribute to the lives lost over the years.
The New York City AIDS Memorial is leading a free public observance of World AIDS Day with two days of programming.
First, the 33rd annual Out of the Darkness candlelight vigil and march — organized by Brent Nicholson Earle, Jeff Bosacki, Robert Gonzalez, and Barbara Martinez — will be held on Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at the New York City AIDS Memorial, which is at 76 Greenwich Ave. in Manhattan at the corner of West 12th St.
The vigil will last for about 30 minutes before attendees will make their way to St. John’s Lutheran Church at 81 Christopher Street for an event with speakers and performers.
“The recent national election has shown the great divisions in our country,” said Brent Nicholson Earle, the founder and president of American Run for the End of AIDS, Inc. (AREA), which founded the Out of the Darkness event. “This year’s theme of ‘Building Community’ for our Out of the Darkness events is so urgent and relevant and necessary. Please join us on December 1 as we light our candles in solidarity, in remembrance, in activism and in hope.”
The programming continues on Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. when the NYC AIDS Memorial hosts a third annual event dedicated to reading the names of New Yorkers lost to AIDS. That event is being held in conjunction with Housing Works, a non-profit organization serving New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and experiencing homelessness.
The NYC AIDS Memorial is also teaming up with Queer Soup Night, a volunteer-led group working to provide queer communities with soup. Four New York City-based LGBTQ chefs — Liz Alpern (Queer Soup Night), Phoebe Tran (Bé Bếp), Surbhi Sahni (TAGMO), and Eric See (Ursula) — will lead a World AIDS Day soup event on Dec. 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the NYC AIDS Memorial.