Group offers hope for those with HIV/AIDS

gay newsnet: Group offers hope for those with HIV/AIDS

Nearly 200 struggling souls gathered for a candlelight vigil the other night in a North Philadelphia neighborhood with a simple mantra: One Day at a Time.

An organization of the same name held the gathering, a group of mostly men who congregated in the middle of the street, wearing orange T-shirts that read "We Change Lives. We Save Lives."

The shirts symbolized sadness and pride, because most of those wearing them were recovering from something.

In this neighborhood, on Lehigh Avenue between 24th and 25th Streets, life can be unforgiving, and the vigil was for those living with HIV and AIDS and those who have died from AIDS. The assembled hoped to bring some light to a community too often blinded by shame and fear of being stigmatized by the disease.

For 16 years, One Day at a Time has held this annual vigil, and in that time, HIV/AIDS has morphed in the African American community from a perceived gay, white disease into a black epidemic...