FEBRUARY 1
1993: Mark S. King becomes director of AIDS Survival Project.
FEBRUARY 2
FEBRUARY 3
“Boys on the Side” posterWikimedia
1995: Boys on the Side, a film about three women—one of whom is living with HIV—who become friends on a cross-country road trip, is released in theaters. The film stars Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore.
2014: AmfAR announces the launch of Countdown to a Cure for AIDS, a $100 million research initiative aimed at finding a broadly applicable cure for HIV by 2020.
2016: Visual AIDS and Jessica Whitbread open the Love Positive Women exhibition with readings and reflections at Dieu Donne.
FEBRUARY 4
LiberaceWikiMedia
1987: Piano virtuoso Liberace dies of AIDS-related complications.
1992: The International Olympic Committee rules that athletes with HIV are eligible to compete in the Games.
FEBRUARY 5
FEBRUARY 6
Arthur AsheWikimedia/CC-BY-SA-3.0-NL/Rob Bogaerts
1993: Professional tennis player Arthur Ashe dies of an AIDS-related illness.
FEBRUARY 7
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
FEBRUARY 8
2014: Transdisciplinary artist Dudley Saunders performs In These Boxes at Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, LA. A mix of live music, narratives and video art, the performance explores the need to keep the dead from disappearing by holding on to their things.
FEBRUARY 9
FEBRUARY 10
Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga glam it up for MAC’s “From Our Lips” campaign.
2010: Musicians Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper become the new faces of MAC Cosmetics’ Viva Glam campaign, which donates 100% of lipstick sales to the MAC AIDS Fund.
“That’s What Friends Are For"
2011: Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder perform their hit song “That’s What Friends Are For” together for the first time in 23 years at the 25th Anniversary amfAR gala in New York City. The gala honors its founding chairman, Mathilde Krim, PhD, President Bill Clinton, Diane von Furstenberg and amfAR founding international chairman Elizabeth Taylor and raises more than $1.5 million for AIDS research.
FEBRUARY 11
1989: A coalition of groups protest the city’s failure to respond to homelessness in the face of the tax breaks given to Donald Trump.
FEBRUARY 12
FEBRUARY 13
2012: The HIV Justice Network issues the Oslo Declaration on HIV Criminalisation. The declaration provides a clear road map to ending inappropriate criminal prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure, potential exposure and unintentional transmission.
2016: Memorial service and celebration honoring photographer Grahame Perry’s life is held in San Francisco.
FEBRUARY 14
Istock
National Condom Day
1995: Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! opens on Broadway. The play revolves around eight gay men who gather at a farmhouse in New York for three summer weekends during the AIDS crisis. A 1997 film adaptation reunited most of the original cast.
2005: POZ Personals, a dating service for people living with HIV, launches on Valentine’s Day.
FEBRUARY 15
2013: The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) announces it has ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy.
FEBRUARY 16
Keith HaringCourtesy of Keith Haring Foundation
1990: Artist Keith Haring dies of AIDS-related complications.
FEBRUARY 17
Rose (left) and Blanche discuss HIV/AIDS on “72 Hours” episode of “The Golden Girls”
1990: An HIV-themed episode of The Golden Girls titled “72 Hours” debuts on NBC. The episode centers on how Rose and her roomates deal with waiting for her HIV test results after a possible exposure to HIV through a blood transfusion.
(TV) Istock
1994: Randy Shilts, the U.S. journalist who covered the AIDS epidemic and wrote And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, dies of an AIDS-related illness at age 42.
FEBRUARY 18
Promotional art for “It’s a Sin”Courtesy of HBO Max and Channel 4
2021: The TV miniseries It’s a Sin, about a group of friends living in London during the early days of the AIDS crisis, premieres on HBO in the United States.
FEBRUARY 19
1986: Parting Glances, an early film about the AIDS pandemic starring Steve Buscemi, opens in theaters.
1994: Derek Jarman dies of AIDS-related complications.
FEBRUARY 20
1998: Visual AIDS exhibition Arts’ Communities/AIDS Communities opens at Boston Center for the Arts.
FEBRUARY 21
2012: Activist Justin B. Terry-Smith begins an HIV advice column in A&U Magazine
FEBRUARY 23
2015: Visual AIDS launches DUETS: Che Gossett & Alice O’Malley in Conversation on Chloe Dzubilo.
FEBRUARY 24
Greg LouganisDreamstime.com
1995: Olympic gold-medalist Greg Louganis announces on ABC’s 20/20 that he is living with HIV.
FEBRUARY 25
2011: We Were Here, a documentary by David Weissman, premieres at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco.
2015: Indiana state health officials announce an HIV outbreak linked to injection drug use in Scott County. By the end of the year, Indiana confirms 184 new cases of HIV linked to the outbreak.
FEBRUARY 26
2009: President Barack Obama announces that Jeffrey Crowley will be the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy to coordinate efforts to address the ongoing AIDS crisis.
Hosts Elton John (left) and David FurnishCourtesy of EJAF/Getty Images/Michael Kovac
2017: The Elton John AIDS Foundation hosts its 25th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party at West Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. The event raises $7 million for the global effort to end AIDS.
FEBRUARY 27
1991: New York City Board of Education votes to distribute condoms in public high schools.
“When We Rise”
2017: The first episode of the miniseries When We Rise airs on ABC. The epic retelling of the LGBT civil rights movement spans four decades and is based on real-life pioneers.
FEBRUARY 28
FEBRUARY 29
2000: ACT UP Golden Gate changes its name to Survive AIDS! to avoid being confused with ACT UP San Francisco.
Wilhemina DixonCourtesy of June Cross
2016: Wilhemina’s War premieres on PBS. The documentary follows Wilhemina Dixon, an African-American woman in South Carolina who helps her granddaughter face the struggles of living with HIV.
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.
AIDS Is Everyday was originally produced in partnership with Visual AIDS as an extension of the exhibition “EVERYDAY,” which was curated by Jean Carlomusto, Alexandra Juhasz and Hugh Ryan in 2016. New submissions will be continually added to the calendar because AIDS is not over. Click here to submit an entry for the AIDS IS Everyday calendar.
Comments
Comments