Elizabeth Taylor speaking at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — GLAAD — and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation today (Tuesday, Oct. 20) announced the release of a public service announcement intended to “inspire, inform and re-ignite the passion and action needed to beat the HIV and AIDS epidemic once and for all.”
Created as part of an ongoing partnership between GLAAD and Elizabeth Taylor Foundation and produced by Martian Entertainment, the PSA begins with Taylor’s speech at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as a way to introduce a new generation to the realities of HIV/AIDS and the tools available to overcome the epidemic. Meredith Viera, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, Michael Emerson, Tituss Burgess and Bebe Neuwirth are also participating.
A 30-second version of the PSA will air nationally, with support from Comcast-NBCUniversal, and an extended version will run online.
Joel Goldman, managing director of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, said his organization is “thrilled” to be partnering with GLAAD for this effort, noting that GLAAD was created “to respond to misinformation in the media about HIV and AIDS at a time when conversation in the zeitgeist about the epidemic was very high, but understanding of the virus was very low.”
Today, he continued, “it’s the opposite. Conversation about HIV and AIDS is barely discussed in individual circles and has comparatively fallen out of the news cycle. This is despite the fact that the U.S. has not seen a decrease in new infection rates in nearly two decades.”
GLAAD and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation announced the release of the PSA on the same day that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new statistical information regarding HIV among people aged 50 and over and regarding HIV among Hispanics/Latinos.
Here are some of the CDC numbers on HIV/AIDS and people over 50:
• In 2012, people aged 55 and older accounted for 24 percent — almost one quarter — of the estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV infection in the U.S.
• In 2013, people aged 50 and over accounted for about 21 percent of the estimated 47,352 HIV diagnoses in the U.S. Of these, largest number — 44 percent — were among those ages 50-54. The majority of the HIV diagnoses in those ages 50-54 were in African-Americans (59 percent), followed by Hispanics/Latinos (23 percent).
• In 2013, people aged 50 and older accounted for 27 percent of the estimated 26,688 AIDS diagnoses in the U.S.
• Of the 6,955 deaths related to AIDS in 2013, 37 percent were among people aged 55 and older.
Now here are some of the CDC numbers on HIV and AIDS among Hispanics/Latinos:
• In 2013, Hispanics/Latinos accounted for 23 percent of the estimated 48,145 new diagnoses of HIV infection in the U.S. and six dependent areas. Of those, 85 percent were in men.
• In 2013, gay, bi and other men who have sex with men accounted for 81 percent of the estimated HIV diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino men, and the annual number of diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men has increased 16 percent since 2008.
• Of the HIV diagnoses among Hispanic/Latina women in 2013, 86 percent were attributed heterosexual contact.
• In 2012, Hispanics/Latinos accounted for 21 percent of the estimated 1.2 million people with HIV infection in the United States, and by the end of 2012, an estimated 125,051 Hispanics/Latinos with AIDS had died in the U.S. and the six dependent areas.
• In 2013, 13 percent of the 6,955 deaths related to AIDS in the U.S. were among Hispanics/Latinos.
