Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - June 8, 2006
Rob Akers
Participants met at the corner of Castro and Market at sundown and listened to a bevy of speakers before making the walk down Castro to an AIDS memorial at the corner of 18th. There, more speakers addressed the crowd.
Those who made the walk carried candles in one hand and an iris, provided by Stop AIDS Project volunteers, in the other. The irises, which symbolize life, hope, healing, and strength in many cultures, were given out as part of the agency's "Promise for the Future" campaign, according to volunteers.
Once at 18th and Castro, many who made the walk wrote a commitment as their promise to the future to prevent AIDS and attached it to the public art installation. Others wrote and attached messages for someone they knew who had died from the disease. Others simply wrote the name of a friend they knew who had fallen to AIDS.
One man who participated in the walk specifically asked a volunteer for an iris.
"That was my partner's favorite flower," said Michael Deschenes, who has buried two partners due to the disease and is living with AIDS himself.
Deschenes, a former Bay Area resident, was visiting from his current home in Ft. Lauderdale, and said he thought it was "perfect" when he heard the AIDS Candlelight Vigil was scheduled the same weekend. He said he was first diagnosed with HIV in 1984 and with AIDS in 1995. He moved to Florida after he began getting sick, in order to be closer to family members.
Today, Deschenes said he is in "excellent health" due to advances in antiviral medicines. He watched the passing of partners Peter Palmieri 15 years ago and Kenneth Dale, 10 years ago.
The mood of the vigil ranged from upbeat to somber and reflective. Oftentimes it took an angry tone, due to the frustrations felt toward against a society and administration that, many believe, is not doing all it can to help prevent the disease.
Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) told the crowd to look back and embrace all the accomplishments that have been made in the battle against AIDS, but that there was still a lot of work to be done.
"What we have done here in San Francisco is built a model worldwide for others to follow," Leno said.
He said he would continue his fight in the state Assembly for more money for prevention and education, and also pointed to meth addiction and low self-esteem as other battle points in the fight against AIDS.
"When the leaders of our nation and of this state spit on the way we love, we know our young people are listening," he said.
Roger Brooks, a long-term survivor and a member of the steering council of Thrive, a support group, said he felt there needed to be a "profound cultural transformation" in order for society to come up with a cure.
"If there is going to be a cure, it will not be coming from big pharmacology or big money ... we need to call for the total liberation of women as the way to fight this thing ... We need a revolution of gender roles," said Brooks. "If you cared for dying friends, if you raged against those who did not give a damn ... you, too, are a survivor."
"Let us hope that the gay revolution can be rekindled by a new generation with new ideas," he added.
Supervisor Tom Ammiano told the crowd it might be time for more drastic measures to get the attention of those in power.
"We need to demonstrate and if that means we have to return to civil disobedience again to bring AIDS to the forefront û so be it. We need to continually remind Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Bush we mean business," he said.
"We are here to remember 25 years of losing loved ones," said a tearful Cecilia Chung, of the Transgender Law Center.
Brian Basinger, director of the AIDS Housing Alliance, said, "We need our leaders to tell us where we are going. If they cannot do that, we need to tell them to get out of the way."
"We have just had 69 deep subsidies replaced by shallow subsidies," said Basinger, referring to funding through the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program. "That is not okay, we need to speak up."
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