On Saturday June 26, 2021 from 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT,  Georgia Equality, in partnership with The Tubman Museum, Fort Valley State University P.R.I.D.E. Navigator and Compass CARES, will host an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of AIDS at the Tubman Museum at 310 Cherry St, Macon, GA 31201. 

According to the CDC, “June 2021 marks 40 years since the first official reporting…of five cases describing what later became known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and what is now HIV Stage III. On this 40th anniversary, we remember the more than 32 million people who have died from HIV worldwide since the start of the global epidemic, the 38 million people currently living with HIV, and the more than 56,000 people living with HIV in Georgia.” 

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Today, the U. S. Supreme Court issued their decision in the case of Fulton v City of Philadelphia. The court ruled that while the government generally may require government service contractors to not discriminate against LGBTQ people and others, Philadelphia’s treatment of Catholic Social Services violated the agency’s constitutional rights due to the unique terms of Philadelphia’s standard foster care contract. While the contract prohibited LGBT discrimination, its flaw was that it allowed for exemptions to that very policy.  

Georgia Equality held a  virtual press conference to break down the court’s decision, its potential impact and to respond to questions.  A panel of advocates, legal and religious voices, addressed the decision outcome, its implication and its impact.

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As is our tradition in June, we are awaiting a potentially huge decision from the US Supreme Court— Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The Court heard oral arguments on November 4, 2020, and a decision is likely to be made by the end of the court’s current term in June 2021—any day now.

While the specifics of the Fulton case involve foster care services and LGBTQ prospective parents, the stakes in the case are much broader. A loss could result in taxpayer-funded child welfare services agencies having a right to discriminate against children in government care when providing foster care services on behalf of cities or states using taxpayer dollars. And such a license to discriminate could go far beyond foster care services. A ruling in this case for Catholic Social Services could also apply to food banks, homeless shelters, disaster relief services and other taxpayer-funded services—creating a broad license to discriminate. 

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Georgia Equality, in partnership with The Tubman Museum, will commemorate the 40th anniversary of AIDS with the installation of African Americans Responding to AIDS: 1981-1991, a photography exhibit honoring historical African American heroes and their responses to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in Atlanta, GA, opening June 5th, 2021.

African Americans Responding to AIDS: 1981-1991 captures the personal stories of activists, caregivers, health professionals, community leaders, and people living with HIV through the first years of the epidemic. The goal is to preserve the memories and the work of those who were often directly affected by AIDS. This history may help challenge ongoing thought on the past and current state of HIV/AIDS, its treatment and prevention. Each photograph is coupled with an audio recording, the personal stories being told directly by the individuals.

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