ABQ holds vigil in honor of World AIDS Day

Albuquerque residents sporting red ribbons and clothing gathered at the Old Town Plaza Tuesday night for the second annual candlelight vigil in honor of World AIDS Day.

Candles were lit in honor of loved ones who lost their lives to the disease while the Highland High School Choir, and the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus sang songs of love and peace as listeners shielded their flames from the cold wind.

The World AIDS Day vigil is an event held on Dec. 1 each year to spread awareness about the effects of HIV on the local community and the stigma that surrounds the disease. 

Javier Rios, a speaker at the vigil who works at UNM Truman Health Services, said World AIDS Day is an opportunity to be aware and act for those whose lives have been affected. He said he thinks it’s important to educate people who don’t know about the disease to de-stigmatize the misconceptions around it.

“It’s a huge problem because, like with other diseases, a lot of people are very aware of it, yet still people don’t have the basic knowledge of HIV,” Rios said. “People think it’s transmitted by saliva, and that’s a lie, but they don’t have the awareness because of the stigma.”

He said the speakers at the vigil hope to encourage people to know their status and get tested. UNM Truman Health Services offers free HIV testing.

While speaking, Rios and the other speakers each mentioned the importance of “getting to zero.” The main theme of the vigil, “getting to zero” embodies the goal of HIV awareness advocates of zero sigma, zero new infections and zero fatalities caused by HIV.

But the data shows it’s going to be awhile before Albuquerque can get to zero. According to the New Mexico AIDS Services website, more than 500,000 Americans have been killed by AIDS. Speakers at the event said about 3,300 people in New Mexico have HIV, most of which are minorities.

Chuck Peterson, a member of the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus, said many people believe AIDS to be passé and gone, but it’s still prevalent in today’s society.

“It’s no longer a death sentence, but we really need to find a cure,” he said.

Peterson said he believes shaming and disrespecting people with HIV is still a problem in different parts of the world today, and many people won’t change their perspectives until they’ve had a personal experience with the virus.

“We don’t want more disease just to change people’s hearts,” he said. “We need to find another way.”

Dnessa McDaniel, a student in the LGBTQ group at Highland High School, said spreading awareness through vigils like this is one of the ways to change that.

McDaniel said she came to the event to spread awareness because she’s lost family to HIV and wanted to do what she can to prevent someone else from experiencing that.

She said the best way to do that is to emphasize to people that HIV is not something that can be ignored and goes away. That’s how people are lost, she said.

“Be strong, be there to comfort others, and never isolate (people who) have lost someone to HIV,” she said.

Skylar Griego is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com.