Tucked away at the end of a rural street in Escondido rests a very special home. It is a place where all are welcome, where love and hope can be felt in the air, and where all judgment is left at the door. This home is Fraternity House, one of only two residential care facilities for people with HIV/AIDS in San Diego County (Michaelle House, the other equally extraordinary home, is located in Vista). In these two homes, Fraternity House, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, has provided affordable housing, meals and personal care to over 400 individuals living with HIV/AIDS since 1988; medications are administered with precision and care, activities are coordinated to provide residents with the highest quality of life, and, most importantly, residents, staff and volunteers interact like any close family would – with dignity, respect and a heavy dose of love.

Fraternity House, Inc. is just one example of a local organization working on a daily basis to fulfill this year’s World AIDS Day theme – “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been observed annually on Dec. 1 as a day to increase education and awareness around HIV/AIDS, as well as remind the world that this epidemic is still very much with us. It is a day to honor those that have passed from the disease and a day to recommit ourselves to the fight against AIDS locally, nationally and internationally.

Dec. 1 is also a day to remind ourselves that even as the media’s attention to the disease and funding for AIDS-related programming diminishes, the disease itself does not. According to UNAIDS estimates, there were 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children living with HIV at the end of 2004, and during the year 4.9 million people became newly infected with the virus. Approximately half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25, and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. And although an estimated 95 percent of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations, HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

“Because AIDS has been around for so long, I think there is some complacency around the disease and [complacency about] prevention of the disease,” Terry Cunningham, chief of San Diego County’s HIV, STD and Hepatitis Branch, told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “World AIDS Day helps to raise awareness around AIDS so that people are always thinking about how to protect themselves and others. As this year’s theme, ‘Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise’ suggests, it is something we all have to recommit to.”

Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been a project of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the epidemic. In 2005, however, UNAIDS handed the project over to an independent organization, the World AIDS Campaign (WAC). The WAC has four main objectives: to ensure governments and policymakers keep their promises to meet the targets they have agreed to in the fight against HIV and AIDS; to foster an alliance of AIDS campaigns, linking local efforts for global impact; to secure the resources necessary for the fight against HIV and AIDS; and lastly, to broaden and strengthen the role of civil society in the response to the disease.

In taking over World AIDS Day, the WAC chose the theme “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” to appeal to governments and policymakers to “make good” on the fiscal commitments they have made to fighting AIDS, and will concentrate on this theme until 2010.

This change in World AIDS Day planning has caused some confusion among HIV/AIDS organizations, and this year, for the first time, some have chosen to adopt their own themes for the day. San Diego, however, will follow the WAC’s theme, with many events taking place around the county in honor of this special day.

“Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” is a theme that operates on two levels – the global and the personal. Globally, it is an appeal to governments and policymakers to ensure that they follow through on promises made in recent years as part of the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment and the Three by Five Initiative.

The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment was signed by all 189 members of the United Nations in June 2001, compelling the governments of these countries to take action in the fields of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support as well as leadership, training, treatment and human rights. According to the declaration, governments aimed to achieve the following goals by the end of 2005: reduce HIV prevalence by 25 percent among men and women aged 15-24 in the most affected countries; ensure that at least 90 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 have access to the information, education and services necessary to develop the life skills required to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection; reduce the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 20 percent by increasing access to services which prevent mother-to-child transmission; and increase annual spending on HIV and AIDS to between $7 billion and $10 billion in low- and middle-income countries and those countries experiencing or at risk of experiencing rapid expansion of HIV epidemics.

The Three by Five Initiative, launched in December 2003 by WHO and UNAIDS, set a similarly strong goal: to provide access to antiretroviral treatment to 3 million people living with HIV in developing and transitional countries by the end of 2005. “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” serves as global reminder that the world is watching to see how nations follow through on these vital pledges.

On a personal level, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” (or, as some are expressing it, “Stop AIDS. Make the Promise”), is a theme that reminds us all to contribute to the fight against AIDS. While World AIDS Day themes in years past have focused on women or children, this year’s theme is one we can all personally relate to; one that forces us all to ask the question, “What am I doing to stop this disease?”

In San Diego, this year’s schedule of World AIDS Day events is more packed than ever before (see sidebar for details). On the forefront of local planning is Mama’s Kitchen, a nonprofit that has been delivering meals to people living with AIDS since 1990. Each year on World AIDS Day, Mama’s Kitchen and Village Hillcrest host the Tree of Life ceremony, an outdoor tree-lighting event at which attendees can purchase personalized tree ornaments in honor of those who have been affected by AIDS.

“The Tree of Life serves a few purposes,” Mama’s Kitchen Executive Director Alberto Cortés told the Gay & Lesbian Times in a recent phone interview. “It provides an opportunity to remember people that have died as a result of AIDS, as well as a chance to celebrate the lives of those who still live with the disease and the challenges that come with it. Additionally, one of the pieces of the evening is a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego, and they lighten up the spirit and welcome us into the holiday season.”

This year’s Tree of Life ceremony, which also serves as a fund-raiser for Mama’s Kitchen, will include a few other special highlights. Featured guests will include Academy Award-winning actress Rita Moreno, Congressmember Susan Davis, Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins and Jeff Gelder of KYXY (96.5 FM). A candlelight vigil co-sponsored by the San Diego County HIV, STD and Hepatitis Branch will assist in displaying the day’s significant message.

“We’re looking forward to the event,” Cortés said. “Twenty-five years into this epidemic, I think it becomes as important as ever to remember all those that have gone before us and to remind the community that we still have a long battle ahead in terms of HIV/AIDS. ‘Keep the Promise’ asks that we continue to take care of people living with HIV/AIDS, and that we all keep or make the promise to stay healthy.”

Jim Cassidy, director of programs and community services for Being Alive San Diego, agrees, and said he views “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” as an incentive to “keep the promise of a vaccine, new meds and constant, constant research.” This year for World AIDS Day, Being Alive will sponsor the first annual HIV/AIDS Film Festival, screening two films that focus on hope and remembrance, One + One and The Smith Family.

“We have always wanted to launch a San Diego HIV-positive film festival, and World AIDS Day seemed like the perfect occasion,” Cassidy said. “We also wanted to provide the community with something new and different. San Diego has never had an HIV-positive film festival, and our hope is that this is the first of many that Being Alive will host.”

This year’s World AIDS Day schedule also boasts a great deal of programming targeting the Latino community. The Center will host a Spanish Memorial Service that will focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community; names of the deceased will be read, Aztec dancers will call on ancestors, and discussion will be encouraged. Following the ceremony, participants will take part in a candlelight procession to the Tree of Life ceremony in Village Hillcrest.

Carolina Ramos, The Center’s Latino Services Program coordinator, explained why this type of culturally specific programming is so needed.

“It needs to be in a language that we understand, with customs we relate to,” she said. “If we are talking about something that is as taboo in our culture as HIV/AIDS, we need to do it in a way that is familiar. This way we incorporate Mama’s Kitchen but also have our own ceremony in a safe place, free of judgment.”

For Ramos, the theme of “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” is especially fitting for the San Diego Latino community, where the rate of HIV continues to rise.

“This is why we need to talk about our individual responsibility and bringing consciousness to our community,” stresses Ramos. “The rate of HIV among Latinos is rising here in San Diego, so we need to use this year’s theme as a way to talk about the disease in a way that is sensitive, but to the point. In others words, we need to say, ‘This is the reality – what are you going to do about it? What is our piece that we can contribute?’”

Adding to programming for the Latino and binational community is Bienestar, who will be holding HIV/AIDS awareness events on World AIDS Day at the San Ysidro and Otay ports of entry.

“We are doing an activity in the border region in order to capture the attention of the population – specifically the Latino population – where numbers [of HIV cases] are rising,” Victor Pereda of Bienestar told the Gay & Lesbian Times. To grab the attention of passersby, volunteers will wear T-shirts that read “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” and hand out literature explaining where to get tested and how HIV is contracted, along with other basic AIDS facts.

“We believe that many people don’t even know how HIV is contracted,” Pereda said. “There are so many myths still surrounding [the] disease that our primary role must be educational.”

The Reverend Meg Decker of Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido, one of two churches in North County hosting World AIDS Day events, sees the educational importance of the day as well. For the second year in a row, Trinity will hold a traditional Communion service in honor or World AIDS Day, followed by a reception featuring resource tables from local AIDS organizations.

“I think the fact that World AIDS Day is ignored by most U.S. churches speaks to the need to remember,” Rev. Decker said. “In terms of the theme, the ‘promise’ is that we care, that we will send help. We could save those lives in Africa; we have the technology. But somehow we’re distracted from doing it. So observing World AIDS Day is a way of waking up our congregation, and hopefully our community. At least we as a church can say we are trying to make good on the promise to care.”

At Fraternity House, “making good on the promise to care” is part of the everyday routine. Hugs are handed out as often as medicine, laughter can be heard throughout the day, and meals contain that “special ingredient” – love. It is a place where staff, residents and volunteers “keep the promise” not only on Dec.1 but every day of the year.

“Fraternity House is more than a hospice, more than a house; it is home to our residents,” said Fraternity House’s executive director, Molly Henry. “And we will be here, providing caring homes for people with AIDS, as long as there is a need.” World AIDS Day Events

8:00 a.m.

Handlery Hotel and Resort

1450 Hotel Circle North

San Diego, CA 92104

For information: (858) 277-6090 or nfn@san.rr.com

8:00 a.m.

San Ysidro and Otay ports of entry

For information: Victor Pereda, (619) 295-2192 or

vpereda@bienestar.org

9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

9500 Gilman Dr. San Diego, CA 92093

For information: www.aidsquilt.org

2:30 p.m.

HIV/AIDS Film Festival screening: The Smith Family

Being Alive San Diego

4070 Centre St. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: (619) 291-1400

4:00 p.m.

Continental Rehab Hospital, Hillcrest

555 Washington St. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: Shannon Hansen or

Carolyn Hunt, (619) 293-4726

5:00 p.m.

Spanish Memorial Service and procession to the Tree of Life ceremony

The Center

3909 Centre St. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: Carolina Ramos, (619) 233-2077

5:30 p.m.

HIV/AIDS Film Festival screening: One + One

Being Alive San Diego

4070 Centre St. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: (619) 291-1400

6:00 p.m.

Village Hillcrest

3975 Fifth Ave. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: (619) 233-6262

6:00 p.m.

UCSD film screening: A Closer Walk

UCSD’s Cross Cultural Center, Lecture Hall

9500 Gilman Dr. San Diego, CA 92103

For information: http://lgbt.uscd.edu

6:30 p.m.

(Includes speakers, music, poetry and a candlelight vigil)

2020 Chestnut Ave. Carlsbad, CA 92093

For information: (760) 729-6311

7:00 p.m.

Includes Communion, displayed AIDS quilt panels and reception

For information: (760) 743-1629

LIFEbeat, the Music Industry Fights AIDS, honors World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 with Bid 2 Beat AIDS, a massive eBay auction featuring hundreds of rare and autographed items from stars in music, film, theater and television. Proceeds benefit LIFEbeat, with a portion of the money earmarked to help rebuild AIDS-related services in the devastated Gulf Coast region.

If you’re looking for a unique and celeb-fabulous holiday gift for a loved one, queer items in the auction include a cowboy hat signed by Elton John, a script signed by the stars of Logo television’s new series “Noah’s Arc,” and memorabilia from Melissa Etheridge, Rufus Wainwright, Erasure, Rent’s Anthony Rapp, Peter Paige of “Queer As Folk” and more.

But perhaps the “queerest” item in the auction thus far: a bottle of officially-licensed limited-edition Lindsay Lohan ketchup from Heinz – signed by Lindsay Lohan herself!

There are also hundreds of signed photos, CDs, posters, DVDs, books and magazines from over 200 stars, including: Mariah Carey, Eminem, Usher, Britney Spears, Joan Rivers, Christina Aguilera, Debbie Harry, Black Eyed Peas, Cyndi Lauper, Tiffany, Jordan Knight, Deana Carter, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Ricky Martin, Diddy, Beyoncè, Duran Duran and Green Day.

Bid 2 Beat AIDS kicks off on eBay Dec. 1 at 12:00 noon PST (3:00 p.m. time EST), and will run for exactly 10 days. Some high-end items require pre-certification before bidding is permitted. For more information on the auction, visit www.lifebeat.org or www.bid2beataids.com.