Dec. 1 has been proclaimed World AIDS Day by the City of Kelowna and its mayor, Colin Basran.
“World AIDS Day is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate those who have passed away.” said Clare MacDonald, executive director of Living Positive Resource Centre in Kelowna. Living Positive will be celebrating World AIDS Day 2015 with local host, author and performer Michael V. Smith for the launch of the inaugural anthology of The Annals of Gay Sexuality: A Contemporary HIV Zeitgeist and a candle light Vigil.
This event will take place Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Kelowna Art Gallery, 1315 Water St., from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
Living Positive Resource Centre is a Kelowna based non-profit that specializes in HIV, hepatitis C and other blood-borne infections. Through prevention, education and support services the organization strives to create a vibrant community of persons from diverse backgrounds in which all are empowered to live well and to their full potential.
Contemporary HIV zeitgeist: With new drug cocktails promising preventative strategies, shorter testing times, undetectable viral loads, and decades of evolution in how AIDS affects the social/sexual lives of Western gay men, World AIDS Day is a far more optimistic moment in contemporary Western culture than even five years ago.
'We’re not surviving, we’re thriving,' as the saying goes.