By Ben Thompson
Crowds gathered in Manchester’s Sackville Gardens this weekend for an emotional candle-lit vigil to commemorate World AIDS Day 2018.
This year represented a particularly significant anniversary, being the 30th iteration of the international day dedication to raising awareness. It is remarkable how much things have changed in 30 years.
Candles lit up the night, roses clutched in the hands of those present. The Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus were on hand to sing soulful renditions of Queen’s ‘Somebody To Love’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.
There was a noticeable emphasis on the global scale of HIV. With 66% of the global HIV-positive population living in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was to be expected that activists wanted to have an international focus for the event.
Several people took to the microphone to talk of the situation for people with HIV in their home countries – welcoming speakers from Indonesia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
As the congregation walked through the Gay Village to pay their respects, everything seemed to stand still – people lined out of clubs to watch with solemn respect as the crowd passed by. Unfortunately, a group of five young men were shouting homophobic abuse. As discouraging as this way to some in attendance, most of the crowd ignored them. It was a remarkable turn-around – 30 years ago, they would have been the majority opinion in this country – now they’re the minority.
World AIDS Day is more important than ever. Eradicating HIV is within our sights – most people living with HIV now are living long lives, managing their illness with medication. People with HIV are not the pariahs they used to be. But work still needs to be done, especially on a global scale. May we never forget the importance of fighting this disease and educating ourselves and others on how to prevent it spreading.
Featured image: Aaron Shaw ‘Is This Thing On?’ is a unique debut show, a product of the creative collaboration between Ellie Campbell, Megan Keaveney (MissMatch), and the So La Flair theatre company. Following its debut appearance at Contact Theatre, the show promises to be a memorable experience for those attending the tour across Wigan, Leeds,…
Featured image: aAh! In each print issue, aAh! Magazine explores one word which runs as its theme. Next up is The FRESHERS Issue 24/25. aAh! Magazine invites all Manchester Met students interested in journalism, writing, photography and design to pitch ideas to be considered for print publication for the upcoming issue: The FRESHERS Issue 24/25….
Featured image: Seagoth “This album is dedicated to all of the people who can’t take a day off from themselves, to the people who have to face their greatest fears every single day – and to all the pain we feel, may we heal”. – Seagoth on How to Stay Wide Awake. While studying music…
Featured image: So La Flair Theatre Ellie Campbell and Megan Keaveney graduated last year from Manchester Theatre School. The pair met at a house party in their first year, where Ellie was standing on a table singing her heart out to Florence and the Machine. Megan locked eyes with her and knew they would be…
Leave a reply