HIV AIDS
The Elton John AIDS Foundation and Brandi Carlile‘s Looking Out Foundation announced a new initiative on Wednesday (April 16) to address what they call an urgent global humanitarian crisis caused by recent drastic cuts to HIV/AIDS funding in the U.S. The emergency initiative “Who Believes in Angels?” campaign — named in honor of the duo’s recent joint album of the same name — will bring communities together to raise funds for John’s long-running AIDS Foundation and its Rocket Response Fund to continue their lifesaving work around the globe.
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“Without prompt action, decades of progress in the global fight against HIV could be reversed, creating a global health crisis that we have both the power and the tools to prevent,” John said in a statement about the urgent need to raise funds in the wake of the Trump administration’s termination of USAID support for such efforts. “Our mission is more important than ever – we refuse to leave anyone behind – and I’m so fortunate that Brandi is not only a wonderful collaborator and artist, but a dear friend who shares my vision of a world where HIV care is prioritized and protected.”
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According to the statement, the Rocket Response Fund will direct resources to open shuttered clinics, restore access to essential medications and maintain prevention services to ensure that people around the world can get the HIV care they need.
The Hill reported this week that the deep cuts enacted by Health and Human Services (HHS) Sec. Robert F. Kennedy to the nation’s public health workforce as part of Trump’s drastic cuts to the government workforce threaten to undo decades of working combating HIV, as well as potentially delaying upcoming scientific advances. Kennedy’s plans to reduce HHS staffing by 20% will effectively zero-out a number of divisions within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hit especially hard are offices focused on HIV/AIDS, including the firing of the entire staff of the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, as well as the lay-off of one-quarter of the Global Health Center Division of Global HIV and TB, as well as the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention. In addition, five branches of the CDC’s HIV prevention division were entirely eliminated, including the research, surveillance and prevention communication branches.
Hit particularly hard were grants for HIV research focused on transgender, Black and Latino individuals — who’ve been disproportionately impacted by the epidemic — in what the Hill said was likely tied to the Trump team’s efforts to eliminate what they deem diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in federal agencies. The Hill noted that before being named as HHS secretary, Kennedy publicly questioned whether the HIV virus causes AIDS and promoted the unsubstantiated belief that AIDS could be cause by the recreational drug known as “poppers,” which is popular in the gay community; the CDC and World Health Organization have long acknowledged that if left untreated HIV can lead to AIDS.
“It was a lifelong dream come true for me to come together with my hero and friend Elton John to make our album Who Believes In Angels? and now, we’re excited to announce that our foundations are also partnering to make our music mean even more,” said Carlile in a statement. “Elton’s activism and work with the Elton John AIDS Foundation was what led me to Elton before I even heard a note of his music. It’s an incredible honor to launch this partnership and raise funds for the life-saving work of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Rocket Response Fund at a time when support is needed the most.”
The announcement noted that international funding has been crucial to reducing new HIV transmission and deaths worldwide. But with a number of countries joining the U.S. in considering aid cuts the Lancet HIV projected that — based on data from 26 countries — up to 10.8 million additional HIV cases and 2.9 million HIV-related deaths could occur by 2030 if international support dries up.
Donations to the campaign — which the Looking Out Foundation will match dollar-for-dollar through Friday morning (April 18) — can be made here.
Alan Menken is an EGOT winner, so he has enough awards to fill his shelves, and then some. But an award he’s receiving on Feb. 26 figures to be especially meaningful to him – the Howard Ashman Award, named after his longtime collaborator who died of AIDS in 1991.
The award will be presented at GMHC’s ninth annual Cabaret & Howard Ashman Award fundraising event, hosted by Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York City. (GMHC was founded in 1982 as Gay Men’s Health Crisis, though the organization used the acronym in a press release about his event.)
Menken and Ashman received their first Oscar nominations for best original song in 1987 for co-writing “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” for Little Shop of Horrors. Less than a year later, in January 1988, Ashman was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
He kept working until his death in March 1991. Menken and Ashman won the Oscar for best original song in March 1990 for “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid another in March 1992 for the exquisite title song from Beauty and the Beast. Ashman received seven Oscar nominations in all – four of them posthumously. That’s more posthumous nominations than anyone else in Oscar history.
Since Ashman’s death, Menken has two additional Oscars for best original song – for “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (which he co-wrote with Tim Rice) and “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas (which he co-wrote with Stephen Schwartz).
Schwartz will be at the Feb. 26 event to celebrate Menken, along with Claybourne Elder, Adam Jacobs and Arielle Jacobs. Kyle Branzel will be the music director.
Proceeds from the cabaret will directly support GMHC’s lifesaving programs for thousands of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Prior Ashman awardees are Lea DeLaria, André De Shields, the late Terrence McNally, Javier Muñoz, Kathy Najimy, Andrew Rannells, Michael Urie, and Tom Viola.
Ashman didn’t live to see the completion of Beauty and the Beast, which was released in November 1991. The film was dedicated to Ashman’s memory, and featured this message after the end credits: “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice, and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950-1991.”
For information on tickets, go here.
Jewel is set to perform at the Angel Awards Gala on Saturday, Sept. 23. The event will be held in the parking lot at Project Angel Food’s Hollywood kitchen, which will be transformed into a “ballroom under the stars.” Project Angel Food prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million meals each year to more than 4,000 individuals living with a wide range of critical illnesses in Los Angeles County.
Jewel, who has reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with six albums, is a singer-songwriter, actress, author and long-time mental health advocate. For 21 years, her Inspiring Children Foundation and Jewel Inc. have been bringing mental health programs to at-risk youth and to corporations. Jewel also created SELLA, a language arts curriculum for schools that incorporates social and emotional learning and mental health practices. She recently co-founded the virtual mental health platform Inner.world.
Jewel may be best known for her double-sided smash “Foolish Games”/“You Were Meant for Me,” which rode the Billboard Hot 100 for 65 weeks in 1996-97, peaking at No. 2. Her other hits include “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Hands.” Jewel has received four Grammy nominations.
Sheryl Lee Ralph will receive the inaugural Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award. Ralph won a Primetime Emmy last year for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Abbott Elementary. She is nominated in that category again this year. She received a Tony nomination for best actress in a musical in 1982 for Dreamgirls.
Ralph’s commitment to Project Angel Food spans three decades. In a statement, Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub explained why the organization created the Legacy award that will bear Ralph’s name in perpetuity. “When no one and I mean NO ONE would stand up for people living with AIDS, Sheryl Lee Ralph risked her career and her livelihood to do what was right. She had seen too much suffering and wanted to help. That commitment to those in need has not wavered in 34 years! This new Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award is long overdue.”
AIDS activist, artist and author Mary Fisher will receive the 2023 Angel Award, a distinction previously bestowed on Judith Light, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg, among others. Fisher may be best known for a pair of bridge-building speeches she delivered at the Republican National Conventions in Houston in 1992 and San Diego in 1996. Fisher serves on Project Angel Food’s board of directors.
The Angel Awards are presented by naming sponsor Wells Fargo, with Glamazon L.A., Amazon’s LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, joining as a principal sponsor.
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