Body Positive's Bruce Kilmister speaks at the memorial service. Picture / Jeremy Green. More than 300 people attended Wellington’s AIDS Candlelight Memorial at the special venue of Te Papa Marae. Body Positive Wellington Manager Ron Irvine says Wellington should be proud of its positive response to the 30th anniversary of the important annual occasion. MPs Claudette Hauiti, Grant Robertson and Kevin Hague and Mayor Celia Wade-Brown spoke warmly of the need to celebrate diversity in the community and to eliminate the stigma formerly attached to HIV and AIDS. The gay MPs told personal stories of experiencing discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Body Positive CEO Bruce Kilmister gave a brief history of the emergence of HIV/AIDS in New Zealand and the enormous challenges which have been met and overcome in the past 30 years. As a long term HIV positive gay man, Kilmister enlightened the attentive audience with many anecdotes of his experience fighting the virus and its dramatic social effects. Body Positive Board Member Paul Boland gave the keynote address on 'keeping the light on HIV'. HIV positive for 31 years, Boland spoke of the need to be public about HIV/AIDS, quoting Nelson Mandela’s speech at the death of his only son as a result of AIDS in 2006. MC Michael Bancroft is the former custodian of the QUILT project - one of which was exhibited in the Marae. He closed the event with an invitation to the audience to post memories of loved ones on the memory board. “Adding to the ambiance of the afternoon was the presence of two choirs The Glamaphones and WOSOSI, and also the local Kapa Haka group Tiwhanawhana, all of whom provided a great musical complement to this solemn occasion,” Ron Irvine says. After the memorial a Tribute Evening, including a number of shows and a charity auction, took place at the RUSH Bar, Wigan Street. All proceeds were donated to support the work of Body Positive Wellington in caring for people living with HIV/AIDS. “To all the people who donated their valuable time and energy to these two events, we at Body Positive in Wellington are extremely grateful and feel humbled by the great generosity offered by the community we serve,” Irvine says.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 20th May 2014 - 12:24pm