A commemoration of journalists who died of AIDS, and others who covered the epidemic, highlighted by a keynote speech from a journalist from The New York Times, will take place on Friday, June 23.

The Pox Lover

“Bodies on the Line: A Memorial to Honor AIDS Journalists” will take place on Friday, June 23, from 12:00 until 2:00pm at the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street in the 2nd floor auditorium.

The event’s lead organizer is Anne-christine d’Adesky, an award-winning AIDS journalist, veteran social justice activist and author of the new hybrid memoir, The Pox Lover: An Activist’s Decade in New York and Paris (University of Wisconsin Press), which looks back at the early days of AIDS journalism and activism.
 
This lunchtime celebration takes place amid anniversary events marking 30 years of AIDS activism by ACT UP and Pride weekend in New York City. The event is designed to bring fresh attention to the lives and legacy of pioneering journalists who died of AIDS and those who have made an important contribution to coverage of the epidemic in different media. Admission to this public event is free. Advance reservations required by emailing talktothefuture@gmail.com.

All journalists are welcome to attend, especially those covering HIV/AIDS and health.
 
Keynote speaker Samuel G. Freedman, a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, as well as a professor at Columbia School of Journalism, will discuss the current state of AIDS journalism and how coverage could be improved. Freedman was a friend of Times reporter Jeffrey Schmalz, a veteran reporter and gay man who began covering the AIDS beat after an HIV-related seizure in the newsroom outed his condition to peers and management. Freedman wrote about this in his 2015 book, Dying Words: The AIDS Reporting of Jeffrey Schmalz (CUNY Journalism Press).
 
The highlight of this event is the announcement of the establishment of an inaugural scholarship for a reporter focused on HIV coverage. The HIV Reporting Scholarship will be known as The Kiki, named after Curtis “Kiki” Mason, a brash POZ columnist who helped pioneer HIV cancer trials and died of AIDS in 1996. The Kiki will be sponsored and administered annually by NLGJA-The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.
 
“Bodies on the Line: A Memorial to Honor AIDS Journalists” will offer discussions, as well as a slide show to commemorate the editors and reporters who committed their careers to chronicling the AIDS epidemic, especially those who succumbed to the disease.
 
This event is co-sponsored by the NLGJA, HIVandHepatitis.com, PLUS, Positive Living, POZ, PrideLife, and TheBody.com. With support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF).