AIDS Is Everyday / November

AIDS is an everyday experience. The dates on this calendar all relate to the AIDS crisis. Some are globally known; others are drawn from personal experiences.

This online calendar is produced in partnership with Visual AIDS and is an extension of the exhibition “EVERYDAY,” which was curated by Jean Carlomusto, Alexandra Juhasz and Hugh Ryan in 2016. The exhibition and accompanying print calendar explored the AIDS crisis—historically and currently—through the lens of art and ephemera that examines and evidences daily experiences and practices in response to HIV/AIDS. Artists featured in the “EVERYDAY” exhibition were invited to submit as many dates to the calendar as they desired.

We invite you to reflect upon these dates, and this artwork, in dialogue with one another. We also encourage you to submit dates of your own by clicking here. Submissions may include the date of your diagnosis, the date of the loss of a loved one to AIDS-related illness or a significant milestone in your life with HIV/AIDS.

New submissions will be continually added to the calendar because AIDS is not over.

NOVEMBER 1

NOVEMBER 2

Anthony S. Fauci, MD, is named director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (1984)

Mark Lowe Fischer’s Political Funeral Procession takes place from Judson Memorial Church and ends at the Republican Headquarters on West 43rd Street. (1992)

Papua New Guinea holds its first national conference for people living with HIV/AIDS. (2008)

NOVEMBER 3

Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer announce the launch of HIV-specific drug company ViiV Healthcare. (2009)

Advocates and community leaders gather in Atlanta’s Centennial Park for the Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS March and Rally. Organized by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the event is the second of three to call for funding to fight HIV/AIDS in the South. The first took place in Washington, DC, during the XIX International AIDS Conference, and the third will take place in New York City on World AIDS Day. (2012)

In the emotional finale of the TV show Finding Prince Charming, Robert Sepulveda Jr., chooses suitor Eric Leonardos, a 35-year-old hairdresser who is living with HIV and disclosed his status on the show. (2016)

NOVEMBER 4

The Health Omnibus Programs Extension (HOPE) Act becomes the first comprehensive federal AIDS bill and establishes the National Commission on AIDS and the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health. (1988)

Designer Kenneth Cole—in partnership with MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation and amfAR—launches  a new celebrity campaign titled “Come Together” that reinterprets the iconic red ribbon. The new ribbon features a double loop that symbolizes the coming together of individuals and the doubling of efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS. (2011)

Gabriel Quinto wins a seat on the El Cerrito City Council and is the first person publicly living with HIV to be elected to public office in California’s Bay Area. (2014)

(RED) and Moleskine launch a new partnership and a campaign called #oneREDday to raise money and awareness in the fight against AIDS. (2014)

NOVEMBER 5

California becomes the first state in the country to allow the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of HIV and other diseases. (1996)

Pop music stars, including Ciara, Kelly Rowland, Common, Romeo and Lyfe Jennings, quiz young adults about sexual health and safer sex practices during the one-hour HIV/AIDS special What U Know Bout That? Rap-It-Up Sex Quiz on BET. (2007)

Visual AIDS launches the Artists+ Registry online. (2012)

The Food and Drug Administration approves Genvoya, a combination of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide fumarate. (2015)

NOVEMBER 6

Photographer Grahame Perry diagnoses HIV positive. (1988)

The San Francisco Department of Health unveils “Disclosure,” a new HIV prevention campaign promoting disclosure and serosorting—dating someone of the same HIV status—featuring psychedelic photos of entwined naked men by photographer Duane Cramer. (2006)

Phil Reed—an openly gay Black man with HIV who was elected to the New York City Council in 1997—dies. He appeared on the March 1998 cover of POZ. (2008)

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire opens in select theaters. The film follows African-American teenager Claireece “Precious” Jones as she faces hardships such as sexual abuse, illiteracy, poverty, obesity, teen pregnancy and HIV. (2009)

A measure requiring adult film actors in Los Angeles County to use condoms for all anal and vaginal sex scenes is approved by about 55% of voters. The City of Los Angeles previously passed a similar ordinance. (2012)

The AIDS Council of New South Wales covers the obelisk in Sydney’s Hyde Park  with a bright-pink condom to raise awareness among the city’s gay men as part of the campaign to end HIV transmission by 2020. (2014)

Grahame Perry’s last exhbition Materials of Survival—Designs for Living with HIV opens at Magnet in San Francisco. (2015)

NOVEMBER 7

Magic Johnson announces he is HIV positive and is retiring from basketball. (1991)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the first rapid HIV diagnostic test kit for use in the United States that provides results in as little as 20 minutes. (2002)

Larry Kramer’s gives The Tragedy of Today’s Gays speech at Cooper Union. (2004)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the “cure” of the “Berlin Patient.” (2008)

At a private ceremony, Earvin “Magic” Johnson—former NBA superstar and longtime HIV advocate—dedicates the World AIDS Museum and Educational Center to the millions of people affected by the virus. Located near Fort Lauderdale, the museum is expected to open to the public in early 2014. (2013)

POZ Founder Sean Strub is elected mayor of Milford, Pennsylvania. (2017)

NOVEMBER 8

Angels in America by Tony Kusher premieres at Mark Taper Forum Theatre, Los Angeles. (1992)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton releases the U.S. government’s plan for attaining an AIDS-free generation. (2011)

In a rare move, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda gets tested for in public to encourage Ugandans to learn their status. (2013)

The exhibition Safe Sex Bang: The Buzz Bense Safe Sex Poster Collection opens at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. It consists of over 150 unique safe sex posters from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, England, Sweden and Australia. (2013)

NOVEMBER 9

“That’s What Friends Are For,” by Dionne & Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder), is released as a single to benefit amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. (1985)

Eighteen people—including New York State Senator Tom Duane—are arrested in Manhattan during a protest urging Governor David Paterson to follow through on his promise to improve AIDS housing. The protest was organized by the New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) and Voices of Community Activists and Leaders (VOCAL). (2010)

Visual AIDS launches DUETS: Dean Daderko & Elaine Reichek In Conversation on Nicolas Moufarrege. (2016)

NOVEMBER 10

Actress and writer Cookie Mueller, who starred in many of the early films of John Waters, dies of AIDS-related causes at age 40. (1989)

Gang Girls featuring HIV-positive artist and activist Chloe Dzubilo premieres at the MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival. (1999)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Egrifta (tesamorelin) for the treatment of HIV-associated lipodystrophy. (2010)

A McDonald’s restaurant in Bentonville, Arkansas, is ordered to pay $103,000 to settle an HIV-related disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2016)

NOVEMBER 11

NBC broadcasts the first major film about AIDS, An Early Frost, starring Aidan Quinn as a closeted young lawyer who returns home to tell his parents he has AIDS. (1985)

Pedro Zamora, AIDS educator and member of The Real World: San Francisco cast, dies of AIDS-related complications. (1994)

Howard Jacobs, an HIV-positive AIDS activist and advocate for youth, social services and people living with disabilities, dies of liver cancer. He served as chair of the board of the West Hollywood–based AIDS service organization Being Alive. (2009)

NOVEMBER 12

Congress enacts the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act, honoring the Florida teenager who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products. The legislation authorizes payments to individuals with hemophilia and other blood-clotting disorders who contracted HIV via unscreened blood-clotting agents between 1982 and 1987. (1998)

The National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, is designated as a national memorial. (1996)

Actor Richard Gere is honored with the Marian Anderson Award for his dedication to Tibetan independence and improving care for those living with HIV/AIDS. (2007)

The Ballad of Fred Hersch, a documentary about the jazz musician and long-term survivor, premieres at the DOC NYC film festival. (2016)

The Woosley wildfire in California razes Camp Hollywood HEART, a long-running summer camp for HIV-positive teens at Gindling Hilltop in Malibu. (2018)

NOVEMBER 13

The American Medical Association declares that doctors have an ethical obligation to care for people living with AIDS. (1987)

The U.S.-based nonprofit Ubuntu Africa hosts its first fashion show fundraiser to support young people living with HIV in Khayelitsha, South Africa. The organization provides them with comprehensive care and services and empowers them to live healthy and stigma-free lives. (2014)

NOVEMBER 14

The World Trade Organization announces the Doha Declaration, which affirms the rights of developing countries to buy or manufacture generic medications. (2001)

Rapper Lil B releases the track “I Got AIDS” from his album I’m Gay (I’m Happy). The song urges listeners to get tested for HIV and have safer sex. (2011)

NOVEMBER 15

ABC’s cloak-and-dagger drama Commander in Chief gets an HIV-related story line when Special Assistant Vince Taylor (portrayed by Anthony Azizi) is outed as gay and HIV positive. (2005)

Hugh Steers: The Complete Paintings is published by Visual AIDS. (2015)

NOVEMBER 16

Nan Goldin organizes Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing, an exhibition of New York artists responding to the AIDS crisis at Artists Space. (1989)

Interior designer Jay Spectre dies of pneumonia caused by AIDS at age 63 in New Canaan, Connecticut. (1992) 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the dual-antiretroviral combination tablet Temixys (lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). (2018)

  

NOVEMBER 17

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants accelerated approval for Epivir (lamivudine) for use in combination with AZT (zidovudine) in treating AIDS and HIV infection. (1995)

Actor Charlie Sheen announces he is HIV positive in a live interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today show. (2015)

Everyday exhibition presented by Visual AIDS opens at La MaMa Galleria. (2016)

Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, is named director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020)

NOVEMBER 18

Model Gia Carangi dies of AIDS-related complications. (1986)

ACT UP’s Youth Brigade YELL demonstrates at the Board of Education in New York to promote HIV/AIDS education in New York City Public Schools. (1992)

  

NOVEMBER 19

 

NOVEMBER 20

The National AIDS Memorial becomes the permanent caretaker and steward of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, returning it to San Francisco. The Quilt’s archival collection of 200,000 objects, documents, cards and letters are transferred to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. (2019)

 

NOVEMBER 21

President Barack Obama signs the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, which allows people living with HIV to receive organs from other HIV-positive donors. (2013)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Juluca (dolutegravir/rilpivirine). The HIV treatment regimen from ViiV Healthcare and Janssen contains only two antiretrovirals, instead of the standard three or more drugs. (2013)

NOVEMBER 22

Dallas Buyers Club is released nationwide. The film is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, an HIV-positive man who smuggled unapproved HIV drugs into the United States to meet the demands of people dying of AIDS-related complications. (2013)

The World Health Organization kicks off the first meeting to assess the global AIDS crisis and to encourage collaboration between the nations affected by the disease. (1983)

 

NOVEMBER 23

The film version of Rent, the award-winning musical about bohemians struggling with life, love and AIDS in New York City’s East Village neighborhood, opens in the United States. (2005)

fierce pussy’s For The Record exhibition for Visual AIDS opens at Printed Matter. (2013)

NOVEMBER 24

Singer-songwriter and Queen frontman Freddy Mercury dies of AIDS related complications. (1991)

Jack Mackenroth, of Project Runway fame, and the global LGBTQ social app Moovz launch the HIV Shower Selfie Challenge using the hashtag #weareALLclean to raise awareness of HIV and funds for Housing Works. (2014)

NOVEMBER 25

In the Trump Tower Thanksgiving Action, ACT UP protests a lack of housing for people living with AIDS while New York City gives tax breaks to wealthy developers. (1988)

NOVEMBER 26

Peter Hujar dies of AIDS related complications. (1987)

NOVEMBER 27

Eight-year-old Eliana Martínez dies of AIDS-related complications in Tampa, Florida. Martínez gained public attention when her mother, Rosa, fought for her to attend school without being restricted in a glass booth. (1989)

A giant helium balloon honoring artist Keith Haring makes its first appearance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  (2008)

Seven AIDS activists are arrested after stripping naked inside U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s office in Washington, DC, to protest possible cuts to HIV/AIDS funding as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. (2012)

NOVEMBER 28

Congress enacts the AIDS Housing Opportunity Act to provide resources and incentives to devise long-term comprehensive strategies for meeting the housing needs of people with AIDS. (1990)

Lifebeat holds a World AIDS Day benefit called Brother, Brother! King for A Day, featuring the music of Carole King at Comix nightclub in New York City. (2010)

Jesse Milan Jr. is named the new president and CEO of AIDS United. (2016)

NOVEMBER 29

The Sword of Damocles: Selections from the Archive Project presented by Visual AIDS opens at The Painting Center (2011)

NOVEMBER 30

Final published data from the Strategies for Management of Antiretroviral Therapy (SMART) study—one of the largest HIV clinical trials ever conducted—conclude that a specific strategy of interrupting HIV treatment more than doubles the risk of disease progression or death and is associated with a higher risk of serious side effects. (2006)

India’s Hidden Plague, a documentary film about HIV/AIDS in India featuring actress Ashley Judd, premieres on the National Geographic Channel. (2007)

David Wojnarowicz’s artwork A Fire in My Belly is removed from the Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery after complaints from the Catholic League. (2010)

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About the Artwork

Celebrating my whole life, I believe these women represent the past and present coming together in the NOW! Giving God the highest praise, thanking Jesus for saving me. Hallelujah!

—Joyce McDonald

Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS awareness and creating dialogue around HIV issues today, by producing and presenting visual art projects, exhibitions, public forums and publications—while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. Visual AIDS is committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement.

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