-
Candle light vigil. Photo by Vern Hester -
Chicago Department of Health LGBTQ+ Liaison Antonio King, left, with Ricardo Jimenez, Senior Associate of Public Health for the PRCC, and PRCC Executive Director Jose Lopez. Photo by Vern Hester -
Jose Lopez speaks on the pioneers of Vida SIDA before the walk. Photo by Vern Hester -
Cotto X in performance. Photo by Vern Hester -
Abigor in performance at The Baton. Photo by Vern Hester -
Ginger Valdez in performance. Photo by Vern Hester -
LGBTQ+ Outreach Liaison for the Chicago Department of Health Antonio King, left, with Baton Show Lounge owner Jim Flint. Photo by Vern Hester -
Lorna Vando in performance. Photo by Vern Hester -
Paul Lopez co-hosting the PRCC’s World AIDS Day Commemoration show. Photo by Vern Hester -
The Baton’s Barbie Blanco, Emily Jade Aguilar, and Maya Lozano. Photo by Vern Hester -
Valeria Mendez co-hosting the PRCC’s World AIDS Day Commemoration Show. Photo by Vern Hester
Before the vigil kicked off, PRCC Executive Director Jose Lopez set the tone by speaking on four trans women who were pioneers in the Chicago Puerto Rican community as he stood in front of a gigantic painting of them by artist Cristian Rolvan. Lopez noted that without the four—Ms. Ketty, Marixa, Jeanette and Valentino—the community would have been ravaged by HIV and ignorance.
After the vigil Lopez spoke at length about the history and purpose of PRCC and Vida/SIDA: “We’ve been doing this [celebrating World AIDS Day] since 1988. We are one of the only communities that acknowledges World AIDS Day.”
Lopez said, “When AIDS came, it struck as a plague in the community and we were in denial. AIDS was worse in communities of color…[including] the Puerto Rican community and the Black community. Death has an entirely different meaning in this community. When I was a little boy in Puerto Rico, it was a tradition to sit with the deceased for twelve hours with the coffin open on the same table where we ate. With HIV, those coffins were closed.”
He continued, “The President, Ronald Reagan [implied that] at the time, ‘AIDS is a gay disease,’ and you don’t need to be concerned about it.’ In the world and in the Puerto Rican community, there was a lot of mis-information about the disease…[such as] you can get it by touching or kissing someone. But in our community, we had our own homophobia to face… We believed that AIDS is God’s punishment. We said there is something wrong with this picture and we challenged it…we took it on.”
Lopez further noted the ground breaking efforts by noted epidemiologist Steven Wakefied (whose studies on health inequities helped frame much of the health and wellness work under taken by the PRCC), Ferd Eggan (a member of ACT UP) and Bartolo Hernandez de Jesus (a founder of Vida/SIDA).
Lopez closed his remarks by asking all who were present to “see this moment from a serious point of view. We celebrate for people who have lived and died and this is the only way to keep them alive…is to celebrate them.”
The event at The Baton may have been a celebration with male and female performers taking the stage, but many participants nevertheless leavened the excitement and joy with poignancy. After her rousing performance, Lisa Cruz spoke about how hard it was to find out that she was HIV positive back in the ’80’s and how the therapeutic choices were not only few but highly toxic. Her story of survival and perseverance brought the crowd to its feet. Performer Neal Debonair disclosed that he is HIV-positive and further admitted that this was the first time he had admitted the news to anyone except his mother, who was sitting in the audience. Eve Stiles incorporated her status as an undocumented immigrant in her musical performance, while noting the importance of PrEP and an awareness of mpox. She also laughed that her rousing performance was her stage debut.