By KATE SOSIN
A star-studded cast took the stage at the U.S. Conference on AIDS in downtown Chicago Nov. 10 to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on gay men.
CNN's Don Lemon moderated a panel that included Project Runway Season 8 finalist Mondo Guerra, Arizona state Sen. Jack Jackson, Jr. and LGBT Chinese activist Beibei Ye.
Tony Award-winning actress Jennifer Holliday finished off the lunch with a performance of the song that made her famous "And I'm Telling You."
Lemon opened the lunch with a speech on his recollections of the onset of AIDS in the U.S., noting that it had been 20 years since Magic Johnson announced his HIV-positive status.
"Everybody thought that Magic Johnson would soon die of AIDS," said Lemon, who called the fact that Johnson and others who were infected at the time still live a "triumph."
Lemon discussed his own experience with stigma as a racial minority, a gay person and a person who was sexually abused as a child.
He encouraged conference attendees to speak out about those and other issues that often impact the spread and stigma around HIV. Finally, he praised the gay community for being on the frontlines in the fight against AIDS.
"When the history of AIDS is written, it is extraordinary to note that the gay community has led this crisis to a close," he said.
Following Lemon, David Furnish, chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, warned against the apathy that took root in the gay community once people with AIDS started living longer.
"The alarm bells that rang in hospitals 30 years ago have been put on snooze," he said. "We need to engage in some loving self-criticism and reflection."
Furnish linked societal rejection and discrimination to the spread of HIV, noting that those who have "been told for so long that you're worthless" are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors.
Guerra discussed how he had battled that stigma for a decade as a gay Latino man, only to come our as HIV-positive on Project Runway. He said that coming out as HIV-positive was far more difficult for his family than his coming out as gay.
Jackson and Ye also discussed the intersections between family, culture and homosexuality. Jackson, a Navajo, said his cousin died of AIDS, a fact that his family would not discuss. Ye detailed the discrimination he faces in Southern China as a gay AIDS activist.
Holliday, who starred in the Broadway musical Dream Girls, recalled the stigma her colleagues faced in the U.S. 30 years ago as half of the crew on that show died of AIDS. Holliday finished the luncheon with a musical performance.
This story is part of the Local Reporting Initiative, supported in part by The Chicago Community Trust.
