Where Were You?

Activists question city leaders’ absence from World AIDS Day events

By Steve Charing

Rankled by the fact Mayor Sheila Dixon and members of the City Council and staff failed to personally appear at World AIDS Day events on December 1 and the lack of copy the Baltimore Sun devoted to the commemoration, several AIDS activists wrote an open letter to complain. 

Dozens of organizations sponsored Baltimore’s citywide World AIDS Day events, which included several others around the city.

"A Deputy was sent to speak in the Mayor’s place," the letter indicated. "While members of the Mayor’s staff provided a great amount of GREATLY appreciated support for the event, the Mayor’s personal priorities clearly lay elsewhere."

The letter made no reference to the fact that Mayor Dixon had been on trial, and the guilty verdict for stealing gift cards was handed down a few hours before her scheduled appearance at the ceremony, which took place outside Mount Vernon United Methodist Church facing the Washington Monument. A candlelight vigil followed.

The letter—signed by Kevin Clemons, William Palmer, John Redmond, Greg Satorie and Carlton Smith—cited an article in the December 2 edition of the Baltimore Sun indicating "Dixon worked at City Hall for much of the afternoon, her spokesman said, and in the evening attended a happy hour for young professionals in Canton and a holiday shopping event in Fells Point."

While Mayor Dixon did not appear at the ceremony, she commemorated World AIDS Day on her website, sheiladixon.com, with a post that day from Caroline Cook. "Today, far too many people think that this epidemic cannot impact their lives – but they are wrong," said Mayor Dixon. "I lost my brother and sister-in-law to AIDS. Since that time, I have been committed to educating young people about how they can protect themselves."

Scott Peterson, a spokesman for the Mayor, told OUTloud that Mayor Dixon takes AIDS very personally and that "she has been working on AIDS advocacy and outreach her entire public life." He added that even in the courtroom where the mayor’s political and legal future hung in the balance, she and her staff wore red ribbons to commemorate World AIDS Day.

Councilwoman Mary Pat Clark responded to the letter stating that she and her colleagues do care, and she thanked the authors of the letter for reminding the members of the council how to show it.

"I am asking President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Councilman Bernard Young, chair of the Public Safety and Health Committee, if they would please schedule a Committee meeting and hearing in early 2010 with representatives of the 70 organizations involved with World AIDS Day, to update us all on status and next steps. Such a coming-together would certainly serve as a good New Year's Resolution for our informed involvement in future efforts and events to address this issue," Clark wrote.