World AIDS Day Is Today But Events All Week Pay Tribute

December 1, 2014• bySeattle Gay Scene

World AIDS Day is today, December 1st and there are two area film screening honoring the fight against HIV/AIDS and the millions of people touched by a pandemic that’s changed the world.

25 to Life is a documentary film having its Seattle world premiere this evening at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, which is at 104 17th Avenue South (17th & Yesler) in the Central District.

25 to Life, is the story of a man seeking redemption after keeping his HIV/AIDS status a secret for 25 years The film tackles the tough social issues of sex, race, and manhood, providing unprecedented access into a life and a family living with the HIV virus. .This is the debut feature-length documentary by award-winning director and Spike Lee protégé. Mike L. Brown.

The event is free to the public but donations gratefully accepted. Reserve a seat at Brown Paper tickets. Doors are at 6pm and screening starts at 7pm.

Across town at the SIFF Film Center at Seattle Center (the Northwest Rooms strip on the north side of Key Arena at Republican & Warren), The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Community Film Series presents The Last One, a new documentary about the history and impact of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

In the eighties and nineties, as AIDS ravaged the United States gay community, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was born out of a public battle for treatment and understanding. Now more than 50 miles long were it to be laid out end-to-end, The Quilt is too large to display in any one location. Yet, even at this size, it does not begin to reflect the number of people who have succumbed to the pandemic. The Last One traces the history of this international art project, and examines how stigma, discrimination, social status and the lack of access to care exacerbate a disease that currently infects over 34 million people around the world.

Gay City Health Project will be on hand collection donations to support World AIDS Day activities supporting their work in our community.

December 1 | 7:00PM | SIFF Film Center

** You must register to attend this event. Seating is first-come, first-served and is not guaranteed. You will need to present your printed reservation at the venue.

Local Seattle World AIDS Day events continue throughout the week, with the 11th annual “World AIDS Day Breakfast” on Wednesday, Dec 3 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Downtown Seattle (8th & Pike). The breakfast is a fundraiser for Gay City Health Project, Seattle Counseling Service, Inspire Youth Project, and Center for Multicultural Health, who all work together to provide education, advocacy and care for our community.

Over thirty years ago the first cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) garnered the world’s attention. Since then, more than 630,000 Americans have lost their lives to AIDS and more than 56,000 people in the United States become infected with HIV each year. Currently, there are more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, and almost half of all Americans know someone living with HIV. In King County alone there are an estimated 7,500 men and women living with HIV/AIDS.

At the same time, Seattle-King County’s progress in responding to HIV has been remarkable. 92% of gay men living with HIV in our region are aware that they carry the virus. Of those, 76% are virally suppressed, meaning that they are engaged in treatment sufficient to bring their viral load to undetectable levels, making it nearly impossible for them to transmit the virus to others. Relative to 2004, the rate of new HIV diagnoses in King County is down 23%. These numbers are extraordinary, the best of any city in the United States and quite possibly the world.

Go HERE to register for the event which will be hosted by KING 5’s Jean Enersen and feature a keynote speech from former King County Executive, Ron Sims.