Bay Area Set to Mark World AIDS Day

Events are planned around the Bay Area this weekend to mark the 25th annual World AIDS Day, which commemorates the lives lost and the work that remains in the battle against HIV and AIDS.

Globally, there are 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, while more than 25 million have died of the disease since the first cases were reported in 1981 in San Francisco and other cities, according to www.aids.gov.

"I think more than ever as we look back to the past it informs the way we have to look at the future," said John Cunningham, executive director of the National AIDS Memorial Grove. "... We've had great advances, but we're still losing far too many people." He added, "I look to the future with hope."

The AIDS grove will hold its annual Light in the Grove fundraising gala from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, November 30. The grove is located in the eastern end of Golden Gate Park at the intersection of Bowling Green and Middle Drive East, across from the tennis courts.

Tim Hanlon, president of the Wells Fargo Foundation, will receive the 2013 Lifetime of Commitment Award during the Light in the Grove event, which brings together more than 500 volunteers, supporters, and others.

According to event organizers, Hanlon has helped lead Wells Fargo to provide more than $17.8 million to AIDS-related causes around the country during the last decade, with more than $575,000 donated to the grove. The banking company and its employees have also contributed more than 5,000 volunteer hours to support the grove.

In a statement that the National AIDS Memorial Grove provided, John Stumpf, chairman, president and CEO of Wells Fargo and Company, said Hanlon "has been a driving force advocating for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness programs, helping Wells Fargo and other corporations dedicate critical resources to raise awareness and help individuals, families and communities impacted by the disease across the country."

Hanlon said in an email that he's "incredibly honored" by the award.

"I've never thought of myself as a leader or as particularly courageous - I just tried to do what I thought was the right thing when it came to support for people with HIV/AIDS," he said. "In the early years of the epidemic, that wasn't always easy but it always seemed to me to be worth the work and worth the risk. Like most everybody else who lived in San Francisco in those early years, I lost a lot of people who were very close, people who were the family I created when I moved from Cleveland."

Individual tickets for Light in the Grove are $200. Host-level tickets start at $500 and go up to $10,000.

The AIDS grove is having its 20th annual World AIDS Day observance from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, December 1, when the international day is officially recognized.

Several people will be honored at the AIDS grove event, which is free and open to the public.
Longtime AIDS policy advocate Phill Wilson

Phill Wilson, president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute, will receive the grove's National Leadership Recognition Award. The Black AIDS Institute is the only national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on black people, according to the AIDS grove, and its mission is to stop the AIDS pandemic in black communities.

In a statement provided by the AIDS grove, Wilson said, "The facts are that we have the tools at our disposal to bring the epidemic to an end: better diagnostic tools, improved treatments, better surveillance techniques, effective prevention interventions, even enhanced policy interventions. We have the tools to end the epidemic. I believe the greatest challenge we face in HIV/AIDS today is not can we end the epidemic, but will we end the epidemic."

Among other positions, Wilson has also served as the AIDS coordinator for Los Angeles and the director of policy and planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles.

He stated that when he got involved in HIV/AIDS policy and advocacy he was "a young black gay man living with HIV who saw the epidemic destroy far too many friends. I watched HIV decimate communities, my communities. I had to become involved. This was the work I was called to do."

Tom Jensen, co-chair of the grove's board, stated, "Phill is an exceptional leader in HIV/AIDS education and awareness, particularly among at-risk populations and the Black community. He has been an instrumental advocate in shaping public policy that has helped save lives and prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS."

Another grove honoree will be the late Franco Beneduce, whom event organizers called "a legendary AIDS fundraising event producer."

Beneduce, who died in May after a stroke caused by an aneurysm, will be posthumously recognized with the Local Unsung Hero Award.

The longtime Bay Area resident was the creator and producer behind Light in the Grove and the annual Folsom Street Fair's Magnitude dance party. Among other achievements, in the mid-1990s, he also co-hosted Closet-Free Radio, which according to the grove organization was one of the first commercial gay-lesbian radio talk shows in the country.

Gina Gatta, former grove board co-chair and last year's Local Unsung Hero Award recipient, stated, "Franco's impact, presence, and legacy will always be felt here at the grove and for generations to come in the many lives he touched. Franco was a part of our community for so many years, making a positive difference with his kindness, generosity, love and creativity."

The public program begins at noon Sunday and will include the Care Choir, which Cunningham said is "a compilation of various houses of worship."

For more information, visit www.aidsmemorial.org.

Other World AIDS Day Events in the Bay Area

There will be several other opportunities to recognize World AIDS Day this weekend.

From 9 p.m. Saturday, November 30 to 4 a.m. Sunday, December 1, Club Rimshot at Bench and Bar, 510 17th Street in Oakland, will host the official West Coast Turn Up and World AIDS Day launch party for Connecting Resources for Urban Sexual Health, a new health center. The center, which is at Oakland's Alta Bates Medical Center (3100 Summit Street, second floor), focuses on young gay and bisexual men of color and offers sexually-transmitted infection prevention and other services. The party, which isn't a fundraiser, will include live music by Trina. General admission tickets are $15. Visit www.bench-and-bar.com/events_07saturday.php for more information.

Sunday, AIDS/LifeCycle will host a remembrance ride from the Sports Basement-Presidio, 610 Old Mason Street, San Francisco, to the AIDS grove.

Riders will gather at 10 a.m. in the Sports Basement back lot before embarking on the 10-mile ride. Red ribbons will be distributed to riders and passersby as a reminder of the day's importance, organizers said. Parking for cars at Sports Basement will be limited.

To RSVP, go to www.tofighthiv.org/site/Calendar/1929849121

A handful of events are planned in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood for Sunday night.

Beginning at dusk, or around 5 p.m., at Castro and Market streets, there will be a vigil with a reading including the names of people who have died from AIDS.
Director David Weissman's acclaimed film We Were Here plays Sunday at the Castro Theatre.

At 7, the documentary "We Were Here," which recalls the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco, will play at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. A question-and-answer session with director David Weissman and the cast will follow. General admission tickets are $11. Tickets for people age 62 or over are $8.50.

After the film, at about 9, there will be a candlelight memorial near the theater. People are encouraged to bring candles and markers. A blank panel will be available "where people can write messages to their loved ones who are no longer here because they died of AIDS or have been displaced from San Francisco," said organizer Brian Basinger, director of AIDS Housing Alliance/San Francisco.

Basinger and others have been drawing attention to people living with AIDS and others who are struggling against high rents and evictions.

"We're also going to invite people to put on their best thinking and write down ideas for what the mayor and elected officials can do about the AIDS crisis and also the housing crisis," said Basinger.

He and others plan to take those ideas to Mayor Ed Lee's office within days after the vigil. He also plans to carry in demands collected from the Wednesday, November 27 march commemorating the 35th anniversary of the assassinations of former gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.

On Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. there will be a World AIDS Day reading and a reception for the exhibit "Safe Sex Bang: The Buzz Bense Poster Collection." The exhibit, which the B.A.R. recently wrote about, includes posters from past safer sex campaigns in cities around the world. It will take place at the Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street, San Francisco. The suggested donation is $5-$50; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Sunday evening from 7 to 8:30 p.m. the San Francisco Interfaith Council is co-sponsoring an interfaith "Service for Remembering World AIDS Day 2013" at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street. The service is organized y the Young Adults of [Third Space]: Young Adults Building Interfaith Community. All are welcome.

From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Monday, December 2, UCSF, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and other groups are sponsoring "World AIDS Day Forum - Getting to Zero in San Francisco: How Close are We?" at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.

People attending the forum, which is free, will get the latest news on the city's progress against HIV/AIDS and innovative programs. Experts from the AIDS foundation, UCSF, and San Francisco General Hospital will be among those on hand.

For more information, see this week's Guest Opinion piece. To register, visit tinyurl.com/l5gkh8t.

HIV Organ Policy Equity

In other HIV/AIDS news, President Barack Obama announced November 21 that he signed into law the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act. The bipartisan legislation allows scientists to carry out research into organ donations from one person with HIV to another.

"For decades, these organ transplants have been illegal," Obama said in a statement. "It was even illegal to study whether they could be safe and effective. But as our understanding of HIV and effective treatments have grown, that policy has become outdated. ... The HOPE Act lifts the research ban, and, in time, it could lead to live-saving organ donations for people living with HIV while ensuring the safety of the organ transplant process and strengthening the national supply of organs for all who need them."