New Jersey’s queer community showed its resilience once again by holding World AIDS Day observances throughout the state, punctuated this year by the Trump administration’s announcement that the federal government will no longer recognize the day, a decision seen as another gut punch by many who remember the Reagan administration’s delayed, callous, and perfunctory response to the crisis that decimated the gay community in the 1980’s.
UNAIDS’ theme for the day this year, “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” highlighted the impact of funding cuts from international donors on the response to the disease and showcased the resilience of countries stepping up to protect the gains made, according to information on the organization’s website.
“In 2025, a historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress. HIV prevention services are severely disrupted. Community-led services, vital to reaching marginalized populations, are being deprioritized while the rise in punitive laws criminalizing same-sex relationships, gender identity, and drug use is amplifying the crisis, making HIV services inaccessible,” the organization said.
In the U.S., in addition to the cuts negatively affecting services, the State Department in November instructed its employees and grantees not to use federal funds to commemorate the day and to refrain from publicly promoting it, according to a Nov. 26 New York Times article. The directive is part of a broader policy “to refrain from messaging on any commemorative days, including World AIDS Day,” the article said.
Despite the federal government’s decision, organizations and businesses that support and serve the LGBTQ community held events throughout New Jersey to commemorate the day and to demonstrate how the community is overcoming the disruption and transforming its response.
When South Jersey AIDS Alliance President and CEO Georgett Shelton thinks about this year’s theme, she doesn’t hear a slogan; she hears a reality check. “After decades in this work, I’ve seen how quickly progress can be knocked off course when funding gets cut, politics shift, or health systems are stretched thin. Those disruptions aren’t abstract. They show up as missed appointments, closed clinic doors, fewer outreach workers, and people who struggle to stay on treatment or access prevention. To me, ‘overcoming disruption’ means refusing to let anyone fall through the cracks during times like these, and doing whatever it takes to keep care and support steady,” Shelton said in an email.
But, Shelton also hears something hopeful in the second half of the theme, “transforming the AIDS response.” To her that means building a response that’s stronger and more just with “more sustainable funding, real investment in community-led care, smarter and more targeted services, and integrating HIV into broader health systems without losing the focus on human rights and equality.”
“In plain terms, it’s a call to protect lives today while reshaping the response so that future disruptions don’t undo what people have fought so hard to achieve,” she said.
The Atlantic City-based alliance, which is honoring its 40th anniversary this year, held an event Dec. 1 in Vineland at Rowan College of South Jersey, Cumberland Campus to provide information on HIV/AIDS prevention, to allow people to remember a loved one lost to the disease, and to learn about community resources. The alliance also held a health fair on the day with other organizations at Stockton University in Galloway.
In Monmouth County, part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt was on display November 30th at the popular LGBTQ nightclub Paradise in Asbury Park. Angela and her husband, Stuart, were among those who came to view the quilt. The couple lives in Philadelphia and Asbury Park. Angela preferred that their last name not be used.
As she viewed the quilt’s panels, measuring 3 feet by 6 feet, the approximate size of a human grave, she used a tissue to dab tears. Her favorite ballet dancer died from the disease. She said he was an “incredible” dancer, and she still keeps a picture of him. “So I see him every day,” Angela said.
Stuart, who grew up in Camden, lost a childhood friend, who was a musician, to AIDS in the early ‘90s. “He probably missed by a little bit the time when medicines were starting to do some good,” Stuart said, adding that his mom and his friend’s mom were the best of friends.
In addition to Paradise, the quilt display was hosted in partnership with the Prevention Resource Network, The Center in Asbury Park, and the New Jersey chapter of the AIDS Memorial Quilt organization. The Infamous Boys of Leather set up the display.
“We are so proud to bring a small portion of the quilt to our little city by the sea,” the club’s manager, Ryan Jimenez, said in an email. “38 years later, these panels rich with history and sorrow help us to remember those we have lost, how far we have come and how much more we have yet to do. In this divisive age of politics, it is important to stand on the back of giants and preserve our queer history as loud and as often as possible to ensure that we will not be erased.”
The Center in Asbury Park and the Prevention Resource Network, which is also based in the city, held a World AIDS Day observance at Trinity Church on Asbury Avenue on Dec. 1. Since 1992, the center has been providing services to people living with HIV/AIDS and says it has since expanded its services to “status-neutral community members” that include healthcare and housing. The PRN is part of the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey and provides services that include sexually transmitted infection testing.
The observance at Trinity included the reading of names of those who passed, performances by local musicians, speakers sharing stories of courage and advocacy, and a poem by Wanda Smith. Smith crafted her work to honor the theme set by the International AIDS Society for both World AIDS Day 2025 and for the international conference in 2026, scheduled to take place July 26-31 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That theme is “Rethink. Rebuild. Rise.” Adrian Malmstrom of The Center said in an email that the theme “calls on us to remember those who have lost their lives, rethink how we approach the HIV-response, rebuild systems to put people first, and rise together.”
In Bergen County, NJ Buddies, with its main office in Hackensack, hosted a commemoration event Dec. 1 at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus that included a free breakfast and words by county Commissioner Chairwoman Mary Amoroso and medical center CEO Deb Visconi. Richard Miles, the executive director of NJ Buddies, which provides HIV/AIDS-related services primarily in Bergen and Passaic counties, said in an email that a choir from Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack “lifted spirits” of those who came. He also noted that the International AIDS Society theme “was apparent throughout the event and provided hope that we will end the HIV Epidemic in NJ by 2030!”
A bit later in the day, NJ Buddies and the organization Free Throws For AIDS held a fundraiser at the Hackensack Recreation Center. Wayne Cesa, Free Throws’ founder, shot baskets, and people made donation pledges for each basket made, or they contributed one donation. “Our goal was to raise money for HIV care and support focusing on free throw shooting led by Wayne. This event will only grow and reach more people as we get more organizations involved,” Miles said.
In the evening, NJ Buddies’ Robert A. Harrison House in Paramus hosted a gathering with coffee, tea, soup, and light snacks. Ray Welsh manages the home, which provides shelter to those living with HIV/AIDS.
In Morris County, EDGE New Jersey, which is based in Parsippany, coordinated an event held at Hope House on Dec. 2 in Dover. Planned Parenthood partnered with the two organizations as well. EDGE says on its website that it works to “amplify the voices of underserved populations, especially people living with HIV or with increased vulnerability to HIV and the LGBTQ+ community”. Hope House is part of Catholic Charities, the Diocese of Paterson.
The event was kicked off by speaker Diana Lang, who talked about self-care strategies during trying times. Those who attended also took part in activities that included a Ribbons of Remembrance ceremony in which attendees honored those they lost.
Garden State Equality, the state’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, held an online workshop on Dec. 1 in Asbury Park on how to advocate for those living with HIV and work for HIV prevention.
The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton released a statement commemorating the day. The center fights for the civil rights of all marginalized groups, including LGBTQ people. “Here at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, we share our respect to all who we have lost & even more robustly we keep striving for all who we can save. We celebrate #WorldAIDSDay and fight that much harder in 2026 because we are closer to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic than ever before!” said Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber, the center’s chief activist.
World AIDS Day was created by two public information officers at the World Health Organization to raise awareness, to honor those who died and to celebrate the progress made in prevention, treatment and care. The first observance took place on Dec. 1, 1988.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, approximately 100,777 deaths from AIDS were reported in the United States from 1981 to 1990.
