International AIDS Candlelight Memorial 2025

The 2025 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, held at the Tararua Tramping Club in Wellington, served as both a commemoration of lives lost and a powerful platform for those living with HIV to share their experiences. The event, deeply rooted in themes of remembrance, resilience, and community, brought together speakers, performers, and advocates whose testimonies reflected the diverse and evolving realities of living with HIV today.

Heather Sangster-Smith opened with a poignant narrative of being diagnosed with AIDS after unknowingly living with HIV for a significant period. Her story illuminated the long-term impact of internalised stigma and the challenges individuals face in reconciling self-perception with public narratives around HIV. Drawing on personal experiences and referencing the insights of Abby Leota, Heather emphasised the critical importance of time, support, education, resilience, and hope as strategies for managing self-stigma. She encouraged the audience to challenge internal negative beliefs and highlighted how strength could emerge from connection, self-awareness, and gratitude.

Jeremy Naylor followed with a candid account of his diagnosis in 2008. Jeremy underscored how stigma, particularly within romantic and sexual contexts, continues to affect those living with HIV despite advances in public health knowledge. He reflected on the progress made in treatment—moving from debilitating early medications to more effective regimens—and drew attention to the persistent misconceptions about transmission, despite the U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) campaign. Jeremy's tone was hopeful and assertive, affirming that HIV is now a manageable condition and does not define one’s identity or life potential.

Kjel Griffiths discussed her journey navigating the healthcare and support systems. She described the importance of indigenous knowledge, alternative medicines, and the spiritual and physical support she received from carers and practitioners outside the mainstream medical system. Kjel's testimony also highlighted how HIV had become a catalyst for self-advocacy, self-awareness, and enhanced health literacy.

Margie Fancypants delivered an especially powerful narrative that combined personal trauma, medical failure, and eventual empowerment. Margie recounted a series of events—including domestic abuse, a misdiagnosis due to faulty tests, and discriminatory treatment by medical professionals—that led to a near-fatal delay in receiving appropriate care. Despite these setbacks, Margie’s consistent adherence to antiretroviral therapy led to undetectable viral loads for two decades. She described a transformative moment at a Vogue Ball during the AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal, where for the first time, she felt truly celebrated for surviving. Margie’s closing message—that community, joy, and artistic expression are as vital to living as medicine—is a deeply resonant call for holistic approaches to health and well-being.

Throughout the memorial, performances by The Glamaphones and Tīwhanawhana infused the event with song and cultural expression. Attendees were invited to light candles in memory of those lost, anchoring the event in collective mourning and shared resilience.

The event also honoured the work of support organisations such as the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, Body Positive, Positive Women Inc, and the Positive Speakers Bureau. These organisations were acknowledged for their ongoing role in advocacy, care, and education. The memorial not only remembered those lost to AIDS-related illnesses but also stood as a testament to the enduring strength, adaptability, and activism of people living with HIV in Aotearoa.

This summary is created using Generative AI. Although it is based on the recording's transcription, it may contain errors or omissions. Click here to learn more about how this summary was created.

Debbie Roche Heather Sangster-Smith Jeremy Naylor Kjel Griffiths Margie Fancypants Richard Tankersley The Glamaphones Tīwhanawhana

2020s, abby leota, aids 2022 (24th international aids conference), aids memorial quilt, anger, anxiety, aotearoa new zealand, auckland, australian football league (afl), body positive, burnett foundation aotearoa, canada, candlelight memorials, cannabis, cd4 count, covid-19 (coronavirus), dandelion, debbie roche, discrimination, fatigue, friends, guilt, heather sangster-smith, hiv / aids, hiv stigma, hope, hospital, isolation, kjel griffiths, margie fancypants, matt hall, media, medications, michael bancroft, montreal, museum of new zealand te papa tongarewa, palliative, paraparaumu, positive speakers bureau, positive women inc, queer, resilience, science, self confidence, self stigma, shame, stigma index, suicide, tararua tramping club, the glamaphones, tīwhanawhana, undetectable = untransmittable (u=u, campaign), wellington, wellington regional hospital

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