THE AIDS CHAIR
After three decades of substantial gains but no conclusion, it is time to bring an end to the AIDS crisis. This will only happen if we get personally involved and take ownership of the issue. The AIDS Chair campaign provides some of the tools needed to move us closer to ending the pandemic, but will only be effective if we combine them with 'direct action' to make it happen.

Action can take many forms and can be simple:
- Get regularly tested for HIV/AIDS to find out your status
- Follow the AIDS Chair home page web links to learn more about HIV/AIDS
- Volunteer for or donate to a local AIDS organization
- Download an AIDS Chair brochure from this site to circulate in your community
- Download an AIDS Chair order form and plan a Red Chair event in your community
- Go to the AIDS Chair facebook page to post your photo/story and inspire others
- Twitter your friends with information from the AIDSCHAIR.org site

AIDS Chairs can be set up in public places such as parks, train stations, sports stadiums, or town meetings to draw local media attention. Red Chair events can be held in classrooms, local public access TV studios, local bars and clubs. They can also be held in the workplace, in the lecture hall, in cafeterias, restaurants, banquet halls, theatres and auditoriums - wherever you believe you can make a difference.

Please note before ordering any AIDS Chairs from this site or planning a Red Chair event: Permits may be required before holding or conducting any AIDS Chair installations in public spaces or parks. You will need to check with your local town hall, school or parks and recreation officials regarding any public space permit rules that may apply.
Christopher A. Cole
Executive Director, AIDS/Project New Haven www.apnh.org

Fifteen years ago, when I was fresh out of college and living in New York City, we talked about HIV and AIDS. It was real. A generation of gay men before us and even a few of our own, were devastated by this virus. Many died and countless others lost loved ones. We didn't dare have unsafe sex... our lives were at risk. We got tested every six months, even if we were certain we were not at risk.

Today, we don't talk about it — even those of us who work in the field. We don't talk about safe sex, not even in a personal way. More and more of my acquaintances are not getting tested; some are even afraid to. AIDS has become a manageable chronic disease to most of us. I don't know anyone who has died due to complications from AIDS in a very long time ... most die from some underlying illness or opportunistic infection complicated by their HIV status.

Re-engagement is GETTING PEOPLE TALKING AGAIN. We need to discuss safe sex. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to all know that HIV has not gone away — it's still a significant public and personal health crisis that can be completely and totally preventable if we choose to do something about it.

Today, I live with HIV...Today, I focus on physical, mental and spiritual wellness...TODAY I am re-engaged!
 
John Merz
Executive Director,
CT AIDS Resource Coalition www.ctaidscoalition.org

Every six seconds, someone in the world contracts HIV. Every ten seconds, someone dies of AIDS-related complications. You don't have to know anyone with HIV to be alarmed by these numbers. I've been involved in the fight against AIDS since 1985 and I am still alarmed by those statistics. But since those early days of my involvement all those statistics about HIV/AIDS are more than just numbers to me — they have become people. People who stood beside me in the fight against infection and ignorance, apathy and antagonism. People who called the AIDS hotline after finding out about their infection. People — children actually — who sat in classrooms and learned from me that their behaviors were putting them at risk for infection. Those numbers represent too many names of those who are fighting or have lost their fight against HIV/AIDS. I stay engaged in the fight — now for 24 years — because I can't sit by and watch those numbers continue to climb. Can you?
 
Janier Cabán-Hernández
Director, AIDS Legal Network for Connecticut
www.ghla.org

As the Latino Caucus, we believe that people are ignoring the reality of HIV/AIDS. We have lost the support of the community because there does not exist a sense of urgency as once before. We need to find different strategies to engage youth and the general public now that this disease is killing us. We have to support our community, we have to struggle and talk about the impact his disease has had on our community, life and family. Wake up now that this disease is closer than we think!

(Como Cámara Latina, nosotros creemos que la gente está ignorando la realidad del VIH/SIDA.  Hemos perdido el apoyo de la comunidad porque ya no existe el sentido de urgencia de antes.  Tenemos que buscar diferente estrategias para llegar a los jóvenes y a la población en general, ya que esta enfermedad nos está matando. No podemos resignarnos a esta situación como la única  posible para nosotros. Tenemos que apoyar a nuestra comunidad; tenemos que luchar y conversar sobre el impacto de esta enfermedad en nuestra comunidad, vida y familias. ¡Despierta, ya que esta enfermedad está más cerca de lo que creemos!)