December 3, 2004

Events across the state mark World AIDS Day

by Anthony Glassman

World AIDS Day, December 1, was honored by a wide range of events.

Across the state, art installations, workshops and banquets were all designed to increase awareness about AIDS and HIV to stem the rising tide of infection.

On November 27, Jerry Szoka threw a dance party at Moda Night Club in Cleveland to benefit the Ohio AIDS Coalition.

Two days later, Kaleidoscope Youth Coalition in Columbus held a workshop entitled ?Safe Sex Trends? aimed at LGBT youth.

On November 30, the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland held two forums on the disease in honor of World AIDS Day, with speakers from the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, the National Association of People with AIDS, the Health Alliance International, Physicians for Human Rights and the Ohio AIDS Coalition. The afternoon session was geared towards professionals who work in the HIV field, while the evening was dedicated to the general public.

On World AIDS Day itself, AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati joined with Caracole Inc. and the Contemporary Arts Center to put on an event at the center, complete with a preview of an exhibit covering the life of Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who died of AIDS.

The Columbus AIDS Task Force, the Columbus Regional Advisory Group and the Franklin Park Conservatory also held an art-themed event, complete with giant stone statues carved by the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe and a candlelight vigil.

The same day, the 14th annual Trumbull County AIDS Day Dinner took place at the Hippodrome in Warren, featuring Miss Ohio 2004 Amanda Beagle speaking about the disease.

Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Cleveland and St. John UCC in Covington, Ky., also had candlelight vigils to mourn the dead and pray for those living with HIV, and the Metropolitan Community Churches in Columbus and Granville held a joint event at Tradewinds in Columbus, while the Queen of Hearts bar in Warren held its eighth annual Sing Out Against AIDS karaoke night to benefit the Trumbull County Area AIDS Task Force.

The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland?s Voices Against the Silence banquet and awards was one of the only events on December 2 that did not deal directly with the passage of Issue 1, Ohio?s anti-gay marriage amendment. The measure took effect that day.

On December 3, an 8 am breakfast presentation dealing with AIDS in Mozambique starts the day, while a World AIDS Day observance in Toledo sponsored by AIDS Coalition Toledo-Northwest Ohio with a keynote address by University of Toledo professor Celie Williamson and a performance by the Chance for Change Foundation closes the week out.