Representatives of HIV organisations begin lighting memorial candles The Governor General has tonight highlighted the hundreds of New Zealanders, mostly gay and bi men, "who died before their time" due to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and the people who cared for them. In a message read to Candlelight Memorial services held around the country, The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, who is also patron of the NZ AIDS Foundation, said "we should never forget those who died before their time" and "the loved ones who grieve for them still." "We particularly remember the courage of those who, in the earliest days of the epidemic, cared for the sick when there were no effective treatments... ensuring that those who died did so with love, dignity and support," he said. A member of Rainbow Youth delivers the Governor General's message This year's Candlelight Memorial theme of "solidarity" "emphasises the need for those living with HIV, and those affected by HIV, to continue to work together," Sir Jerry noted, in a message delivered in Auckland by a young gay man. One of the speakers at tonight's service in Auckland, Body Positive General Manager Bruce Kilmister noted that 700 New Zealanders have been killed by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic took root thirty years ago. He said that those still living with HIV continue to face "the last frontier we have to fight," that of stigmas and discrimination. NZAF Executive Director Shaun Robinson observed that it is thirty years since the International Candlelight Memorials started, in San Francisco, that 30 million people around the globe have died from HIV infection and a further 30 million are currently living with the virus which, if untreated, leads to AIDS. HIV-positive speakers told the over two hundred people gathered in Auckland of the courage it takes to be open about their health status and of the support which is available to those diagnosed with HIV infection. Messages from the Prime Minister, the leader of the Labour party and the Greens were read out at services around the country including in Wellington, where 80 people gathered at St Andrews on the Terrace. Candles were lit at each event in acknowledgement of the dead from the gay communities and other affected groups.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 19th May 2013 - 10:29pm