One of AIDS Walk New York’s perennially popular Gold Teams, the CandyWrappers, are using their powers for good for the 15th year, led by New York’s sweetest, sassiest drag queen, Candy Samples, and her co-conspirator, Jesse Pasackow.
It was a call that Candy received from a friend in 2012, saying he’d tested positive for HIV, that inspired the two to start the CandyWrappers. “He’d hoped a one-time slipup wouldn’t lead to anything, and of course it did,” she says. Candy had been hearing about PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), approved by the FDA for HIV prevention earlier that year – and wished her friend had known about it too.
“At that time, our friend groups weren’t talking much about HIV. Once the drug cocktails came out in the mid-90s, people kind of shut their mouths. They’d just go and test and hope for the best,” Candy says, referring to multi-antiretrovirals which effectively suppress HIV.
But for Candy’s creator, Will Harrell, whom she refers to as “the man behind the curtain,” HIV/AIDS awareness was personal. When Harrell was just 12, his father, a hemophiliac, contracted HIV from contaminated blood products and died three years later, in 1991. His father’s doctors instructed the family to keep the HIV diagnosis secret, warning that he could lose his job and health insurance from the stigma.
“That call from my friend brought it all back,” Candy says. Distraught, she confided in Pasackow, her roommate, over pizza and a big bottle of wine. “I just slid down the couch and told Jesse I felt as devastated as when my father contracted HIV. I felt that same sadness, anger, and helplessness.”
“You’re Candy Samples!” he responded. Invoking her cabaret song, “Use Your Powers for Good,” Pasackow suggested they start an AIDS Walk New York team. “‘But I can’t wear heels in Central Park,’ I told Jesse. He said I could wear flats – and signed us up on the spot as the CandyWrappers, the name of my Facebook fan page,” Candy says. “There were just six or seven of us that first year – but it grew and grew.”
After the CandyWrappers did their first AIDS Walk New York in 2012, fans started messaging Candy on Facebook to ask how to get PrEP or to say they were HIV positive. Many joined the team. “Last year, we had 42 folks. This year, I’d love to see 60 sign up and have 30 walk,” Candy says, explaining that many CandyWrappers are virtual walkers.
“We want to raise awareness and stop the stigma around HIV/AIDS. I don’t want anyone to feel like my friend,” Candy says. “He’s doing great,” she adds, with his HIV at an undetectable, untransmittable
Candy was already a tireless HIV/AIDS educator and activist by then. She got her start as a singing, songwriting drag phenomenon at the Miss Pool Slut Pageant in 1995, an AIDS benefit in Harrell’s Atlanta hometown. “
After moving to New York, Candy started hosting Friday karaoke nights at the Albatross Bar in Astoria in 2002, and her activist side blossomed. “It gave us a platform to talk about queer issues and HIV/AIDS,” she says. From there, she started performing her own cabarets. “I use my dad’s story in my shows. It’s always been why I do the work I do,” she says. “The hemophiliacs hid and tried to blend. The gays got organized and rallied.”
The Moment Is Now
“This is the year to do AIDS Walk New York,” Candy says. “We are going backwards with the current political administration. We cannot be in the ‘80s again. They don’t care about our wellbeing, because the elites can afford to pay whatever for healthcare.”
“GMHC was the first to fight for people living with HIV/AIDS. They’re our heroes. It is so important, especially right now, to support the programs they provide for all New Yorkers affected by HIV,” Candy says. “We’ve really got to get on this healthcare bandwagon,” she adds. “We need universal healthcare – and that includes PrEP and HIV care. I’m tired of asking for a little. We need the whole cake! And I mean the 10 layer one with the homemade chocolate fudge icing that grandma made.”
Harrell himself knows what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. Two years ago, he underwent an ileostomy, which removed much of his colon and small intestine. It stemmed from aggressive surgical radiation he’d received for Hodgkins’ disease as a child that damaged his arteries and, eventually, internal organs.
“When I fell ill, the community came together for me,” Candy says. “I’m still leaning on people, dealing with depression and body dysmorphia from being an ostomate with this pouch. I want to end the stigma around that too! I am so blessed to have this community. We’re all going to lift each other up.”
Due to her health issues, Candy asked Gigi St. Croix to perform in her stead for her January AIDS Walk New York benefit at the Albatross Bar – but she’s booked an AIDS Walk benefit show for Feb. 14, with more shows to come in March, April, and May. A generous benefactor is doubling the money raised at the Albatross shows, so come out and see her!
In mid-February, you can also register for AIDS Walk New York in Central Park on May 17 – and even join the CandyWrappers team! As Candy says, “Use your powers for good!”