World AIDS Day is Sunday, with remembrances in Orange County and elsewhere in Florida

Andres Acosta Ardila cries every time the AIDS memorial quilt is presented at World AIDS Day celebrations.

The patches of the quilt contain stitches of memories of the lives lost to HIV in Central Florida.

“Those quilts that are being presented represent those of us that have passed and it’s really touching because of the person living with HIV, you understand that the people that have passed made it possible for you to live today,” said Acosta Ardila, the co-chairman of the Central Florida HIV Planning Council.

He was diagnosed with HIV 11 years ago. Acosta Ardila, like many other Central Floridians, is alive thanks to advancements in medicine.

That’s why the council will celebrate once more, its seventh year, on Sunday at the Winter Club Venue in Winter Park. The council is organizing the event along with Heart of Florida United Way.

AIDS in Central Florida

World AIDS Day was first established in 1988 by the World Health Organization to raise awareness and destigmatize HIV.

New HIV case rates have decreased in America over the last 12 years but remain high with 38,000 new cases diagnosed in 2022, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.

The AIDS crisis persists in Florida, with the state receiving the third most amount of diagnoses in the country, trailing behind Texas and California. The state had 4,600 new cases of HIV in 2022, according to the Department of Health.

Central Florida in particular has been strongly affected with 14,000 people living with the virus in Orange, Seminole, Volusia, and Osceola counties, according to AIDSVU, a research group out of Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Last year, Orange County alone saw 460 new cases, according to state data.

However, due to advances in medicine, 67% of Floridians diagnosed with HIV are “virally suppressed,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – meaning they carry such little traces of HIV in their system that they cannot pass the virus on.

Living with AIDS and being celebrated

Those advancements are not only necessary for stopping the spread of HIV but also for destigmatizing it.

Acosta Ardila remembers the sadness and isolation he felt when he was first diagnosed.

“It meant that as a 23-year-old, I no longer felt sexually desirable. I felt like I was broken, damaged goods, and at the same time, it put this burden of disclosure on me to where I had to talk about my HIV status to somebody, or I could be given a felony,” he said.

However, advancements in medication changed everything.

“It showed people that we were just like everyone else like there was nothing to fear really, And that’s the message that I really want to get out,” Acosta Ardila said.

How to celebrate World AIDS Day

Sunday’s event starts at 2 p.m. with a social and refreshments located at 2950 Aloma Ave. The celebration’s programming begins at 3 p.m.

“Everyone is welcome. We’re really excited to make it a celebration of people living with HIV, because, again, that’s what we need,” he said. “For a lot of us, this is the first space where we feel reintegrated, back into the community, celebrated, and then also at the same time like we have a voice.”

Registration for the event can be done on the Central Florida HIV Planning Council’s Instagram or Facebook page. 

There are several other celebrations around Florida. They include:

Jacksonville: Service of Remembrance and Hope starts at 7 at Riverside Church at Park and King, following a short memorial walk at 6 p.m. On Monday, Jacksonville City Hall will hold a 25th anniversary ceremony of the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Broward: An AIDS candlelight vigil and remembrance walk in Wilton Manors begins at 6:30 p.m. at Hagen Park and ends at the Pride Center Pavilion.

Palm Beach: Compass LGBTQ+ Community Center in Lake Worth Beach hosts a quilt display, candlelight vigil and speakers. Also, a display the AIDS Memorial Quilt begins Monday through Dec. 14.

Tampa: The Red Dress Ball is a fundraiser for Empath Partners in Care, Sunday from 7-11 p.m. at Southern Nights Tampa in Ybor City.

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