International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) advocates to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV

History of the Memorial

The Candlelight Memorial began in 1983 during a time of confusion and misconception about a mysterious disease sweeping the gay community in San Francisco in the United States. Knowing they would die within the year and with no political support, four young men – Bobbi Campbell, Bobby Reynolds, Dan Turner and Mark Feldman – decided to put a “face on the disease” by coordinating a small vigil behind a banner reading “Fighting For Our Lives.”

The original coordinators planned a march down the Castro District to City Hall and created a poster. As others joined in, the Candlelight drew thousands, beginning a movement that would inspire countless other people living with HIV and AIDS in other countries to bring the disease into the light for communities and national leaders, to foster support, and move people to action. The Candlelight Memorial was managed by an organization named Mobilization Against AIDS until the Global Health Council began organizing the event in 2000.

On May 18, 2008 the Global Health Council organised the 25th Anniversary of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial – commemorating a quarter century of remembrance, community mobilization, and global solidarity. For 25 years, the Candlelight Memorial has brought people together in every region of the world to honor those lost to AIDS and demonstrate the importance of civil society, a movement in step with the spread of HIV itself. During the anniversary the Global Health Council produced a special issue of Global AIDSLink newspaper on the history of the Candlelight Memorial.

In 2011 the International Candlelight Memorial has returned to where it started, again hosted and coordinated by people living with HIV, through the Global Network of People living with HIV. In the vision of the Global Network of People living with HIV, the Candlelight remains one of the most important civil society-led efforts as it demonstrates the invaluable role communities play in the fight against HIV and AIDS as well as the critical partnership between communities and governments in promoting prevention, treatment and care, not just for HIV, but for other related illnesses and issues.