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Group marks World AIDS Day
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Twenty-five people gather in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse to observe World AIDS Day. Sunday’s vigil and walk through downtown aimed to raise awareness of HIV, dispel the stigma attached to it and honor those who died of AIDS. Tammy Bellish of Struthers, top, spoke at the vigil.
By Jeanne Starmack
Youngstown
Tammy Bellish of Struthers stood at the top of the Mahoning County Courthouse steps and faced the group gathered on the sidewalk below her.
“I’m an HIV-positive person,” she told the crowd of about 25 people who were there at 5 p.m. to observe World AIDS Day with a vigil and a walk from the cour‚ house to the B&O Station on Mahoning Avenue.
“I say I’m a bridge-builder,” Bellish continued. “I’m building bridges to those who aren’t HIV-positive so they can put a name and a face to HIV.”
In freely talking about their HIV status, Bellish and another speaker, Iris Almos of Youngstown, aimed to dispel the stigma that often comes with it.
“We have families, live, love and struggle, and yes, we die,” Bellish said.
“How are you going to respond to me and others like me?” she asked. “Stigma breaks hearts. It breaks spirits,” she continued.
“It’s important to me that everyone knows who we are, and it doesn’t make us any less of a person,” Almos said.
Bellish, who has lived with her status for 25 years, also said the stigma could prevent people who need treatment from seeking it.
Being HIV-positive is no longer a death sentence, Almos pointed out.
Nonetheless, those gathered for the vigil believe awareness is an important element that is slipping from the public consciousness.
Funding was cut two years ago for an AIDS task force in the city health department, though there is still a clinic at Oakhill Renaissance Place, said Terry Mitchell, a nurse who works there.
The task force did community outreach, Mitchell said.
Another sign that awareness is becoming less of a priority in communities, especially in the black community, is the alarming statistic that black women make up 65 percent of new HIV cases, said Anita Davis, a co-organizer of the vigil. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2012 that black people made up only 13.1 percent of the country’s population.
“Unless we make more noise, it’s going to keep increasing,” Davis said. “In the African-American community, we still have our head in the sand about this disease.”
Youngstown council has passed a resolution recognizing World AIDS Day.
“On behalf of the city council and administration, we are observing World AIDS Day to promote awareness and education and remember those who have passed,” said councilwoman Janet Tarpley.
Davis began a “roll call” of names of loved ones lost to AIDS.
Several people in the crowd ascended the courthouse steps to pay tribute.
The group set out then toward Boardman Street on their way to the B&0, where they’d planned a reception. On the way, Allison Locketti of Youngstown talked about her own experience. She was a social worker who’d worked with HIV-positive people.
“I learned a lot about life and the disease,” she said.