{"id":419794,"date":"2025-12-02T15:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419794\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:46:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:46:17","slug":"we-will-not-politicize-public-health-chicago-advocates-decry-federal-cuts-at-world-aids-day-remembrance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419794\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We will not politicize public health\u2019: Chicago advocates decry federal cuts at World AIDS Day remembrance\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

LGBTQ+ leaders and longtime HIV\/AIDS activists gathered at the AIDS Garden Chicago on World AIDS Day for a ceremony that blended remembrance with a call to action.<\/p>\n

The program was held at the base of the towering Keith Haring sculpture that anchors the AIDS Garden Chicago, 3100 N. Lake Shore Drive, which opened in 2022 as the city\u2019s\u00a0first public monument to memorialize the early days of Chicago\u2019s HIV epidemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward), who was instrumental in the AIDS Garden\u2019s opening, started the ceremony with a stark reflection on the early years of the epidemic when government denial and stigma fueled widespread death.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of us in this room were veterans of not a foreign war, but a domestic war,\u201d he said. \u201cThey called it a gay disease back then, and we fought like we were in World War III.\u201d Tunney added that \u201cthe same kind of homophobia is back in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Former State Rep. Greg Harris speaks on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2025, at the AIDS Garden Chicago. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n

Former Illinois House Majority Leader Greg Harris, who was\u00a0honored with a plaque at the AIDS Garden Chicago in June<\/a>\u00a0for his decades of HIV-related advocacy, echoed that sense of alarm. He warned that federal cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will affect HIV funding and research across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that money is disappearing out of the HIV care system,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

With Chicago and Illinois both entering budget cycles, Harris stressed that local advocacy will be critical to protecting HIV services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe squeaky wheel gets the grease,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIf your alderperson is asked, \u2018Is this an important program?\u2019 and they say, \u2018I\u2019ve never heard from anybody in my community about this,\u2019 that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio King, LGBTQ+ outreach liaison for the Chicago Department of Public Health, responded to the federal political climate with a vow that Chicago will continue to defend LGBTQ+ public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not politicize public health,\u201d King said, repeating the line for emphasis. \u201cWe are not done yet, and we will not let an administration\u2014we will not let bigots\u2014override us or kill us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Precious Brady-Davis, chief strategy officer at the Center on Halsted and commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, connected the threat of today\u2019s federal cuts to the historical trauma of the AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n

\"\"Community members gather in front of the Keith Haring sculpture at the AIDS Garden Chicago on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2025. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a federal administration that refuses to even acknowledge that today is World AIDS Day,\u201d Brady-Davis said. \u201cThat silence is intentional. It echoes the devastation of the Reagan era, a time when government neglect let people die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady-Davis called HIV\/AIDS organizations the community\u2019s \u201cfirewall,\u201d ensuring that people living with HIV \u201ccan thrive, not just survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Omar Mart\u00ednez Gonz\u00e1lez of AIDS Foundation Chicago, the pain and urgency of the moment are deeply personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable what this administration is doing\u2026 to dismantle the infrastructure that serves these individuals,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Omar Marti\u0301nez Gonza\u0301lez of AIDS Foundation Chicago speaks on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2025, at the AIDS Garden Chicago. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n

\u201cI am committed to this fight because of the people who have come before me\u2026 who laid their lives on the line to ensure programs like\u00a0HOPWA<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Ryan White program<\/a>\u00a0are a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program closed with longtime activist Don Bell, who urged the community not to forget older people living with HIV\u2014and not to allow age divisions to weaken the movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all on the same mandala of life\u2014we\u2019re just in different places,\u201d Bell said, calling for an \u201cintergenerational fight\u201d to preserve resources and dignity for people aging with HIV.<\/p>\n

\"\"Molly Callinan sings at the AIDS Garden Chicago on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2025. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LGBTQ+ leaders and longtime HIV\/AIDS activists gathered at the AIDS Garden Chicago on World AIDS Day for a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":419795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[196381,196382,106411,960,196383,210,10940,5386,1818,196384,5603,196385,196386,196387],"class_list":{"0":"post-419794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-aids-garden-chicago","9":"tag-antonio-king","10":"tag-center-on-halsted","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-greg-harris","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-hiv-aids","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-keith-haring-sculpture","18":"tag-lgbtq","19":"tag-precious-brady-davis","20":"tag-tom-tunney","21":"tag-world-aids-day"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115650756562350590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}