The GLIDE Pride team was singing, hugging and stretching in the foggy Robin Williams Meadow before the San Francisco AIDS Walk began. The energetic team of about 25 walkers snapped fans and danced throughout the day. As they walked, many of the other participants shouted “hey GLIDE!” in honor of GLIDE’s long history HIV/AIDS activism, health services, fundraising, advocacy and grief support.
The team raised more than $11,000 for AIDS research, prevention and treatment. “Every year we are able to raise more and more funds, and this year is the most we have ever raised,” said Michelle Arce, a member of the Glide Ensemble, and a co-captain of the walk for over a decade. Michelle reminded the team that fundraising will continue through the end of August. “It makes me so happy. Every dollar that you give helps towards finding a cure,” she said.
“As a Latino queer person of color from Ecuador, this achievement holds special significance for me,” said GLIDE’s other co-captain Danilo Saavedra. “Our efforts have not only contributed to the fight against the AIDS pandemic but have also helped raise awareness and foster a sense of consciousness for future generations. It is essential that we continue to educate and remind ourselves and others about the importance of this cause and the ongoing struggles faced by many in our community.”
In addition to walking, the Pride Team also sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” during the opening ceremony of the 5K. The song, from the musical Carnival, is the official anthem of the AIDS Walk and has special meaning for Glide Ensemble soloist, Dennis Hersey. Walking in memory of his partner Ross Freeman, who died in 1989, Dennis said, “when I think of him, it reminds me that I’m not alone and it’s a great feeling.”
Karen Kuchinski, an ally and longtime member of the Pride Team, wanted people of all backgrounds to remember “all of us can get the disease, none of us are immune.” She was walking in honor of her best friend who has been living with HIV for 35 years. “She is healthy. She is alive. And you can live with this disease,” Karen said.
The AIDS epidemic had a profound affect on Rick Ross, who moved from New York to San Francisco and “basically disappeared for thirty years,” he said. “It was inescapable. It was fatal. It was beyond serious. It was stigmatized.” In 2016, Rick encountered Glide Memorial Church and began to heal and reconnect. “GLIDE is one of the things that helped me reemerge into the world,” he said, “and that has transformed my life.”
One of GLIDE’s AIDS quilt panels was on display at the walk. Created in 1996 by the children of GLIDE, the panel is designed to look like the historic stained-glass windows of Glide Memorial Church. The center of the panel includes some of the many names of GLIDE community members who died from AIDS.
The quilt panel is regularly featured at the AIDS Walk, because it is one of the only panels that includes and celebrates children who have been affected by HIV and AIDS.
At the end of the walk, a small group of volunteers from the National AIDS Memorial gathered near the quilts and shared stories about the event from throughout the years. Several had canes and were no longer able to put the tables, chairs and tents away. One of the top walkers and a long-time AIDS activist, Joanie Juster turned to me and declared, “I can’t physically lift the quilts anymore. So, today is the day you learn to fold them. We need you to carry this work forward.”
I joined four other volunteers and began folding the AIDS Quilt panels. As I was folding GLIDE’s quilt, I felt the literal weight that has been carried by all who walk, advocate, raise funds and grieve. As we walk forward it is up to all of us to continue this important work until there is a cure, new infections cease, stigma is vanquished and everyone we have lost is honored.