Pride holds AIDS awareness carnival
December 13, 2009
Pride Student Union organized their first annual AIDS awareness carnival on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Around the world, this day is recognized as a day of remembrance and support for those whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. According to worldaidsday.org, HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system, and a person is considered to have developed AIDS when the immune system is too damaged to fight off common illnesses or diseases.
Pride is a student organization whose main focus is to accept students of all sexual orientations. The carnival was organized in order to raise awareness about this disease and preventative measures people can take,.
“We choose to have a carnival theme because the concept of AIDS is so poignant and sad, we didn’t want to do something to depress people and turn them away,” said Jessica Johnson, a member of the carnival planning board.
Those whose lives have been impacted by HIV/AIDS are honored around the world on Dec. 2.
The carnival was intended to draw a diverse crowd of visitors, according to Johnson.
“Pride decided that a carnival would be a nice tribute fun interactive way to get all the students at Florida State involved,” said Johnson
The carnival featured free popcorn and cotton candy to all students, as well as a large inflatable slide and sumo wrestling costumes. Daniel Scarantino, the center director of Pride, worked the cotton candy machine and said he was pleased to see the number of new faces at the carnival event.
“AIDS is such a terrible thing, but something that is out there that people need to be aware of,” said Scarantino. “This carnival allows people to have open dialogue about HIV and AIDS and really learn. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy free cotton candy?”
Braydon Apple, one of the coordinators of the event, went around to people in attendance and asked them random facts about AIDS.
“The majority of the people have no idea and are really surprised about the facts and statistics,” said Apple.
In addition to free food, facts about AIDS and games, the Pride Student Union also handed out free condoms Frank Jaffe, a member of Pride, handed out fliers prior to the event with condoms attached to encourage people to come to the carnival and to practice safer sex.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV each year and that there are about 1.2 million people living with HIV or AIDS in the United States. People can best protect themselves from contracting this disease by practicing safe sex, and remembering to get tested for the virus.
Photo courtesy of max_thinks_sees/Creative Commons
