If you're wondering why the Wilson Building looks redder than usual this evening, it's because the District is joining in today's commemoration of World AIDS Day by hosting a number of events and shining red lights on the home of the city's government.
D.C. Observes World AIDS Day
AIDS Activists To Risk Arrest Outside White House
December 1 is World AIDS Day, and several vigils and protests are planned in D.C. today and through the weekend to mark the occasion. In the wake of the recent report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration calling the HIV infection rate in the city "a modern epidemic," over 40 protesters are planning to drape themselves in red tape and stage a sit-in on the White House sidewalk by Lafayette Square at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon....
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-verse
With visions of sugar plum fairies dancing through their heads, the -Ists began to get into that holiday mood. Well, some did.
World AIDS Day in the District
More than two decades after the first cases of a strange “immunity systems ailment” appeared in Washington, today's observance of World AIDS Day sees the epidemic still rampant, both in the city and around the world. While the number of new infections peaked in the District in 1993 at 1342 cases, it remains persistent. Despite massive education and “get tested” initiatives, the number of new infections in D.C. still hovers around 900 per year. We’ve all seen the haunting statistics in the papers and on ads throughout the city:
World AIDS Day Events in the District
World AIDS Day, observed today, has particular relevance and importance for the District. The city has the distinction of suffering from one of the nation's highest rates of HIV infection, afflicting 1 in 20 residents, ten times the national average, and 1 in 7 African-American men. The District's response to the problem has been so ineffectual (some say the city is 10 to 15 years behind where it should be) that in August D.C. Mayor...

