Doing What You Love: Q&A with Luna Ortiz
Luna Luis Ortiz (@lunalens on Instagram) has been a part of New York’s Ballroom Voguing Community scene and a photographer since the late 1980s. In 1989, he began his journey as an HIV awareness spokesperson for youth living with HIV. Today, Ortiz continues to inspire and empower youth of color around the world with his […]
GMHC Mourns the Loss of Top AIDS Walk New York Fundraiser Rita Fischer
GMHC lost one of our most passionate supporters on April 22, 2021, when Rita Fischer passed away at the age of 97. Fischer participated in nearly every AIDS Walk New York (AWNY) since 1986, raising in total more than $1.3 million. AWNY is GMHC’s largest annual fundraiser. “We have lost a woman, mother, and advocate […]
‘Love Heals’ Continues to Bring HIV Prevention Education to Youth
March 11, 1989 was a seminal moment in the history of the AIDS epidemic. The New York Times ran a frontpage article about Alison Gertz, the daughter of a prominent Manhattan real estate family, with the headline “Unlikely AIDS Sufferer’s Message: Even You Can Get It.” Gertz herself would later appear on numerous TV shows […]
‘The Fight for Fair and Just Public Policy is Far from Over’
GMHC’s policy team may currently be small, but it still punches way above its class. The agency’s many firsts and strong name recognition in the fight against HIV/AIDS means GMHC is often expected to be at or invited to the table with key decisionmakers determining HIV/AIDS policies at local, state, and national levels. “One of […]
