WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood is hosting several events to celebrate World AIDS Day on Friday, December 1. The first World AIDS Day was held back in 1988. According to a press release from the city of West Hollywood, the annual World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil and March and Paul Starke Warrior Awards will begin at 6 p.m. at the Matthew Shepard Triangle, located at the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Boulevards. Candles will be provided to participants.

The walk will pass by plaques on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk on Santa Monica Boulevard, which memorializes individuals lost to HIV/AIDS. The Candlelight March is presented in conjunction with the Alliance for Housing and Healing and several community organizations.

Participants will march to the West Hollywood’s City Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room at West Hollywood Library, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. At 7 p.m., immediately following the march, the Paul Starke Warrior Awards program will transpire. The awards honor individuals who provide services to people living with HIV/AIDS. The event will feature guest speaker Laurie McBride, who is an LGBTQ activist and former California Assistant Secretary of State, and the Being Alive Musical Globe Display. The event is free to the public and open to all; RSVPs are requested via www.whwad.eventbrite.com. Validated parking will be provided in the adjacent five-story parking structure.

Beginning at 12:01 a.m., the city of West Hollywood will continue its annual tradition of broadcasting AIDSWatch on WeHoTV. AIDSWatch is a 24-hour electronic art piece and memorial that takes place each year on World AIDS Day. It presents one name, one memory, one life at a time, on a black screen in stark white letters. The AIDSWatch roster consists of approximately 25,000 names individually shown for about 3.5 seconds.

Residents and community members who have lost family or friends to AIDS are asked to include them in AIDSWatch; names may be added at www.aidswatch.org.  WeHoTV is available to Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) customers within the region on channel 10. AT&T U-verse customers across Southern California can access WeHoTV on channel 99. Viewers at home can tune-in to WeHoTV online at www.weho.org/wehotv.

AIDSWatch will be projected on the north-facing exterior wall of the West Hollywood Library. AIDSWatch will be visible to participants of the World AIDS Day Candlelight March as they proceed down San Vicente Boulevard.

A panel of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at the West Hollywood City Hall, located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard, from Monday, November 27 through Friday, December 1. The Quilt was conceived in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones, and is a memorial to and celebration of the lives of people lost to HIV/AIDS. It was first displayed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on October 11, 1987. It has since grown from 1,920 panels to more than 48,000, and has not been displayed in its entirety since October 1996.

Other World AIDS Day-related events include:

Lambda Lit Book Club’s discussion of Hold Tight Gently: Michel Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS, facilitated by Steven Reigns. Lambda Lit Book Club meets on Tuesday, November 28 at 7 p.m. in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard; visit www.lambdaliterary.org/book-clubs/lambda-lit-book-club/ for additional details.

Screening of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix-winning film, BPM (Beats Per Minute), about a young man who joins ACT UP Paris in the 1990s. The BPM (Beats Per Minute) screening will transpire place on Saturday, December 2, at 7 p.m. in the city of West Hollywood’s City Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room at West Hollywood Library. The event is free to the public, but RSVPs are required via www.whbpm.eventbrite.com. The film contains adult content. Refreshments will follow the screening.

For additional information about World AIDS Day events, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Social Services Division at (323) 848-6510. For people who are deaf or hearing impaired, call TTY (323) 848-6496.