“We Have A F***ing President Who Won’t Even Recognize World AIDS Day!”
It was rare to see John Heilman lose his trademark soft spoken demeanor. We stood in front of the protest podium as Irwin Rappaport, former chair of the Foundation for the AIDS Monument, began to speak. There was a moment of remembrance. John Heilman was looking down at the floor of the memorial. He didn’t pick up his head. Through the side of John’s glasses I could see a rare moment of emotion from the City’s founding father. I gently touched upon his shoulder. John was not alone. We are not alone. The wounds of years of war fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic was still omni-present. This would be the first time we could gather at the AIDS Monument on World AIDS Day in West Hollywood since the outset of the AIDS crisis at the start of Cityhood in 1984.
John Heilman stepped up to the podium shortly thereafter:
“I also want to ask us all to reflect for just a moment about all the people we lost, all of the people we lost, we lost here in West Hollywood, the people who worked for our City, the people who lived here, the people who played here. And I want us to reflect and GET ANGRY.
Because we should be ANGRY. We have a FUCKING PRESIDENT WHO WON’T EVEN RECOGNIZE WORLD AIDS DAY. What is wrong with that? We know why this is, right? Because who is impacted by HIV and AIDS? Gay men, people of color, women in the South, that’s the primary growth right now with HIV. He doesn’t care about any of us, and he doesn’t care about people in Africa.
We should be respecting the people we’re honoring tonight. We should make a commitment that we’re gonna be back out in the streets, because that’s what we need to do with respect to this administration. And we need to be taking this message not just here in West Hollywood, we need to be taking it all across the country. It is an outrage that we can prevent AIDS, that we can cure the disease, and this administration has turned its back on us. It has defunded all of the programs in Africa that were cutting the spread of HIV and providing treatment. It has cut PrEP. It has cut all of the programs that support our community, so please join me in getting mad, because that’s what we need to do to honor those people we are honoring tonight.”
Stories: The AIDS Monument is located @ 625 North San Vicente between Santa Monica Blvd. & Melrose.
WeHo politicians need to focus on WeHo issues. Whining about Trump, and passing “resolutions” on Palestine, is meaningless, narcissistic, virtue signaling. So they can pat themselves on the back. “I am standing up to the bad orange man”. It is for people devoid of ideas. This needs to change.
Spooky and weird; the black match sticks are not uplifting or memorable. People I know would have preferred a well-lit rose garden. Very poor design. I hope someone finds a way to improve it; the idea is great, the execution 2nd rate and not worthy of those who died. During my time, AIDS was a horrifying reality. I was coming out at the same time AIDS took off. Double whammy; afraid to come out, afraid to have sex. Well, I was a model. Got more offers than anyone needs; finally had sex but always, always used condoms. Never did much… Read more »
Heilman caring about Trump not acknowledging World AIDS Day is the problem with WeHo. Did he really expect Trump to care? We already know that Trump sucks.
How about Heilman caring about the destruction of WeHo’s business community and the countless vacant spaces along Santa Monica Boulevard? He should focus his efforts on real, solvable problems.
Thank you. Well said.
Perhaps we should also all get angry too and say we have a f*cking city council who doesn’t give a flying f*ck that their policies are killing this city! (See what I did there… using curse words means I’m really really upset.) God bless all those that we’ve lost to this horrible disease. And thank God, we now know how to stop it from spreading and have medication to prevent people from dying that do get infected.
Agreed on both fronts.
Thank you. Your perspective restores some faith that there are still people willing to think independently in today’s climate, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, where conformity of thought is often assumed rather than questioned.
It also raises a reasonable question: why should this individual feel compelled to care about what President Trump thinks? The focus should remain on substantive issues — such as public health, cancer research, and civil rights — rather than political posturing or imagined personal relevance.
Thanks for organizing this beautiful and deeply moving event. I’m glad all council members put their differences aside and agreed on the importance of this monument. May this site be a lightning rod for queer causes in our community
Yes to everything John Heilman said and your comment as well!
One of the speakers reminded us that even after there was finally a test for HIV, there was initially a two week wait for results- the longest two weeks of his life. Both he and his best friend found out they were positive at the same moment- heartbreaking.
Lauren Meister asked the audience to simultaneously say the name of someone they knew who had passed from AIDS- almost no one was silent.
Our voices matter.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻