Bay Area Reporter - March 30, 2001
Katie Szymanski

As events behind closed doors started to unravel this past month, it has become clear that some grassroots activists and smaller AIDS organizations are at odds with what a city coalition had apparently proposed for "Marking the Milestone: 20 Years of AIDS."

In more specific terms, it appears as though San Francisco's City Hall was very close to wearing the largest red ribbon ever to be tied in remembrance.

Detailed minutes from March 7 and March 16 meetings - involving Mike Shriver, HIV/AIDS policy adviser to Mayor Willie Brown; Dr. Tom Coates, director of the University of California San Francisco's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and the AIDS Research Institute; and a coalition of AIDS groups - credit Shriver with proposing and moving forward the ribbon idea, hoping that it would "become an international symbol drawing worldwide media attention." Plans called for the ribbon to be unveiled by Mayor Brown on June 5 during an event that would feature the reading of names of victims, the ringing of church bells, and featured speakers.

To the treatment advocacy group Survive AIDS, which unanimously rejected this proposal after learning about it, these plans were an "empty, hollow display," according to member Jeff Getty. Survive AIDS, although invited to the coalition meeting, did not attend, instead opting to host its own 20-year commemoration.

"At a time when AIDS services are being drastically cut, a giant red ribbon is a waste of money," said Getty, noting that promoters, engineers, and many others would have to be hired to pull off the feat. "If they can raise that kind of money for a ribbon, why can't they raise it for better services?"

Getty also questioned the effectiveness of the ribbon.

"What do they intend to accomplish, to get into the Guinness Book of World Records?" he said. "Once they get the attention they're after, what's the point? Is it to ask for money?"

Besides, said Getty, the red ribbon went out years ago, and to revive it now is insulting.

"You can buy a red ribbon in any Walgreens these days. The money behind red ribbons hasn't gone to AIDS in quite some time. It's a tired icon," he said.

Shriver, while acknowledging that he was aware of complaints from Survive AIDS, denied that a red ribbon or anything that would cost a substantial amount of money was ever part of the plan.

"That's not true," Shriver told the B.A.R. on Tuesday, March 27. "What is accurate is that whatever it is we do will be a way to visually remind the world that this a city that responded first, and that we intend to keep fighting. We stand at precipice of ending the epidemic."

The ribbon, said Shriver, was an idea that "probably came from someone at the table when we were brainstorming. I assured [Survive AIDS] that this was not what we would be doing."

As of March 16, however, a full week after the ribbon idea was introduced, minutes indicate that Shriver was scheduled to meet with Mayor Brown to iron out the details of the ribbon's unveiling.

And according to Tom Nolan of Project Open Hand, the ribbon was a serious contender even as recently as within the past few days.

"We had discussed various ways to fund it, and had decided it should not come from AIDS organizations but from elsewhere, and as far as I knew, a meeting was scheduled to propose it to the mayor," Nolan told the B.A.R. "The ribbon idea certainly provided a dramatic visual image. But once it became apparent that there was a controversy, I, and others, agreed that maybe we should pare it down a bit."

As it stands, therefore, all the reasons for ribbon-related secrecy and angst remain unclear. But according to Shriver, one thing is certain: marking the 20th anniversary of AIDS will be a very somber event.

"This is not something you mark with a lavish display," said Shriver. "It will be very simple, very stark, and will focus on volunteerism and the way this city has responded to AIDS."
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