World AIDS Day - Honoring

Today is World AIDS Day. I remember gathering at a candlelight vigil on December 1, 1988, as a college senior at the University of Washington. The vigil was at Temple de Hirsch Sinai, and it was the beginning of my connection to an incredible inter-faith community of people who were working to bring compassion to the crisis; to love people who were being kicked out of their families and kicked down by society; and to educate the religious community about critical topics like AIDS-phobia, Homo-phobia, and the relationships between racism and AIDS.

I chose then that my first work, upon graduation, would be in this space. Thanks to an amazing woman, the late Gwen Beighle, I was given the opportunity to work for the then-nascent Multifaith AIDS Project of Seattle.

Everything I've done in my career has grown out of my experiences at that time. My graduate school choices; my training; my years in ministry; my commitment to nonprofit leadership... Everything I'm doing today traces back to this time.

I have no words to express how many people, couples, children and families have been impacted by AIDS -- but I do know that today is a day to be honored and remembered, especially at this moment in history, when the people most impacted by HIV/AIDS are under seige in many respects, in many nations, not the least of which the US.

My life has been deeply touched by people who are no longer walking among us, but whose love and courage transcend their life's end due to HIV. And my life is touched by many people, indeed walking among us, who are living with HIV with courage (and also confidentiality, due to extreme risk of prejudice).

Thank you for joining me in honoring World AIDS Day today.