• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • 2nd Annual Sabor de Mi Centro Block Party Boogies in Boyle Heights
  • Senior Prom Celebrates 25th Anniversary
  • “Solidarity Forever”: Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr at Trans Town Hall
  • “We Are Immense, and We Are Abundant”: Trans Pride LA Organizer Gina Bigham Looks Back on a Decade-Plus of Highlights and the Biggest Trans Pride Yet
  • Trans Actors, Athletes, and Activists Celebrate Community and Solidarity at First-Ever Trans Town Hall
  • “My Crown Is Paid For”: 12 Center Portraits of Juneteenth
  • House of Avalon, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Join Center Staff and Supporters for LA Pride: “F*ck the Margins. We’re the Center.”
  • This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»Health»Center Screens AIDS Documentary: “It Brought Back a Lot of Familiar, Old Emotions”
HIV and aging discussion

Center Screens AIDS Documentary: “It Brought Back a Lot of Familiar, Old Emotions”

0
By on September 25, 2019 Health, Seniors

By Greg Hernandez

As he sat in his seat inside the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre watching the documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, Michael Arrigo kept flashing back to his life as a man living with HIV in the 1980s.

“I was sure I was going to be a panel on a quilt or just another statistic by now,” the 64-year-old said after the movie which tells the story of the AIDS activist movement from the perspectives of the people who were in the trenches fighting the epidemic.

“It brought back a lot of familiar, old emotions,” Arrigo added. “I have a lot of friends who died.”

The Center’s Senior Services department showed the film as part of National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day on September 18. ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) used civil disobedience and other tactics to successfully fast-track experimental drug research and testing.

The screening was followed by a conversation with the Center’s Sexual Health and Education Team about sex positivity, HIV, and tips for enjoying sex after 60.

Audience member Richard Orell, 71, was invited onstage to join the panel discussion because he had helped found the Los Angeles chapter of ACT UP.

“I’m HIV-negative, I don’t know how,” he said. “Most of the people who are in my age group and in my circle of friends are dead. My generation was the hardest hit with AIDS because it was the beginning.”

Orell worked as a bartender during the worst years of the epidemic in the ‘80s and ‘90s and said it seemed like, each day, someone died.

“Without exaggeration, I must have buried 1,000 people,” he said. “Thinking about all of the people whom I have lost, it is really depressing—it really is. I haven’t had sex in probably 10 years, and it’s mainly because I’m afraid of AIDS.”

Chris Clarkin, a Health Services program coordinator, moderated the post-movie discussion and admitted to the audience that, as a young gay man, he never thought he would make it to middle age.

“I didn’t plan for retirement, I never thought I would get married, I honestly never thought I would make it beyond 45 years old,” he said.

Breakthrough drugs in the mid-‘90s began to dramatically lower death rates. In more recent years, pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) has become available and is highly effective for preventing HIV when taken daily. PrEP has been proven to be 99 percent effective at preventing HIV. However, it offers no protection from other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Condoms remain the best protection from most STIs.

Paul Chavez, community engagement manager for Health Services, lamented that, of the estimated 70,000 people in Los Angeles who are ideal candidates for taking PrEP, less than 5,000 of them are actually on it.

“In the days of ACT UP, our community fought so hard for any research or treatment for HIV,” he said. “Fast forward to now and we have a pill that will prevent HIV. Yet, we have a hard time getting the people who would most benefit from the pill to access it.”

Chavez points out this is largely because the history of the AIDS epidemic is being lost on newer generations.

“Our history is not taught in schools so it becomes up to us to educate our younger generation,” he said. “I think it’s very important to have that historical context of where we were when AIDS hit, how hard our community fought back, and how it brought us together. If there was a medication that prevented HIV in 1982, people would be beating down the doors and doing whatever they had to do to get the medication.”

PrEP is covered by most insurance plans and, for those who are uninsured, the Center can help make it affordable through patient assistance programs. To renew a three-month prescription for PrEP, clients need to return to their Center or their health care provider for continual HIV and STI screenings.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition

Mpox Resurgence: What You Should Know

LGBTQ+ Youth, Seniors, and ‘Drag Race’ Queens Celebrate Chosen Family at Inaugural Intergenerational Thanksgiving Dinner

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

  • There are no upcoming events.
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Your weekly dose of #QueerJoy. *hits play on my Be Your weekly dose of #QueerJoy. *hits play on my Berkeley Spotify Wrapped playlist again* 🤣🫶🏾🥰
Every year on December 1, people come together to Every year on December 1, people come together to commemorate #WorldAIDSDay— paying tribute to those we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS while fighting to end stigma. @fableticsscrubs is proud to uplift and outfit the unsung heroes, the providers extending culturally competent care year round through The Center’s Health Services. Know your status by booking a testing appointment today at lalgbtcenter.org
Surprise, surprise! Meet and greet drag superstar Surprise, surprise! Meet and greet drag superstar #Valentina this Friday (Dec. 1) as we honor  #WorldAIDSDay with a FREE rooftop reception supporting AIDS/LifeCycle in partnership with the #LosAngeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Space is limited, so RSVP today with the link in bio! #DragRaceMexico
Did you know there’s a morning-after pill for ST Did you know there’s a morning-after pill for STIs? #DoxyPEP, the use of the antibiotic doxycycline to prevent transmission of syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, is now available at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Visit lalgbtcenter.org/doxy to book your appointment online now—no calls, no wait time—so you can start your morning right. 📷 @chrissalvatore
It’s Giving Tuesday Live with @gwynethpaltrow, @ It’s Giving Tuesday Live with @gwynethpaltrow, @camerondiaz and @katya_zamo 💜 visit lalgbtcenter.org to pledge your support today! Proceeds lift housing services for LGBTQ+ youth and seniors, and are MATCHED by our partner @usbank 🌈
Everyone deserves a place to stay. This #GivingTue Everyone deserves a place to stay. This #GivingTuesday, your dollars go to support the Center’s housing services for LGBTQ+ people. Tap that donate button to give today.
This Giving Tuesday, tune in to see Gwyneth in con This Giving Tuesday, tune in to see Gwyneth in conversation with the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Phillip Picardi, and learn more about how the Center creates a safe, welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community.
 
Watch the event live on our Instagram on November 28th at 11 a.m. PT. #GivingTuesday
 
Find more information about the Center and donate below.
[lalgbtcenter.org/donate]
Moments of #QueerJoy that made me cackle this Than Moments of #QueerJoy that made me cackle this Thanksgiving weekend 🤦🏾‍♂️🤣💜
#OnThisDay in 1991, Freddie Mercury tragically pas #OnThisDay in 1991, Freddie Mercury tragically passed due to complications related to HIV/AIDS. His death came just 24 hours after his diagnosis was announced to the public. At the time, Mercury’s memory was tarnished in the press—in no small part due to the stigma attached to the virus. Now, decades later, he is more appropriately remembered for being a musical and cultural legend, as well as a queer icon. Next week, we will be honoring those we’ve lost at a vigil for World AIDS Day, presided over by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Join us by RSVPing at the link in bio. (h/t @nycaidsmemorial; photos via @freddiemercury)
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.