Georgia Equality marked the 30th World AIDS Day with a week of events to engage the community. United by the “Know Your Status” theme, we joined our community partners in commemorating World AIDS Day 2018 with events that included a screening of the film Boy Meets Girl followed by a panel conversation led by Georgia Equality’s Gender Inclusion Organizer, Chanel Haley focused on HIV and dating in the trans community. Our partners at Sisterlove led us in a conversation around Black women and HIV. We also partnered with Thrive SS for an evening of spoken word, led by artists living with HIV.
To round out the week, we united with Actor’s Express for a staged reading of the play, Before it Hits Home by Cheryl L. West, directed by True Colors Theatre Company’s incoming Artistic Director, Jamil Jude. The play explored the dynamics of an African-American family dealing with the HIV during the late 1980s. The reading was followed by a panel discussion.
We closed the week with our annual World AIDS Day Policy & Action Luncheon hosted by our Youth HIV Policy Advisors (YHPA). The YHPA cohort is a group of future leaders trained to guide policy around HIV and AIDS, and serve as unofficial policy advisors to elected officials. The event included remarks from Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Other elected officials from all levels of state and local government also attended and heard from program participants about the specific needs and challenges that come with being a young person living with HIV in the metro-Atlanta area.
Georgia Equality would like to thank our community partners, YHPA, and elected leaders who attended our week of programs this year. While much has changed over the past 30 years – HIV is no longer a death sentence but a treatable and manageable chronic disease – we recognize that we still have a long way to go.