FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 World AIDS Day, observed internationally on Dec. 1 to raise awareness about the global AIDS epidemic, drew crowds to Fort Lauderdale Beach on Sunday for a night of remembrance, advocacy and music.<\/p>\n
Broadway stars Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal \u2014 known for originating the roles of Mark and Roger in Rent \u2014 headlined the event, performing onstage as attendees gathered to honor those affected by HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are passionate about it. The passion that exists in this music speaks to everyone,\u201d attendee Thia Thomas said.<\/p>\n
The event was organized by CAN Community Health.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are patients affected by HIV, but also allies and the entire community who know someone affected by HIV,\u201d said Kal Gajraj, the group\u2019s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s observance followed the Trump administration\u2019s decision to no longer recognize World AIDS Day, first marked in 1988.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here. We\u2019re strong. We are responding as a community,\u201d Gajraj said. \u201cThe message is \u2018no day but today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The CDC estimates more than 39 million people worldwide have died from AIDS, and more than 1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV or AIDS.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still here,\u201d attendee Maia Wilson said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t left.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many, the event served as a moment of remembrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in the early \u201980s, seeing a lot of people die \u2014 it was a horrible time,\u201d attendee Charles Longwell said.<\/p>\n
Nearly 30 years after its debut, the message of Rent continues to resonate with audiences honoring lives lost and advocating for awareness.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 World AIDS Day, observed internationally on Dec. 1 to raise awareness about the global…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-66075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}