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Monument honors West Hollywood’s AIDS activism, presenter says
Summary
At the opening of the final section of a West Hollywood park, a presenter described a new monument as a tribute to local AIDS activism and recounted how the city redirected local tax revenue after incorporation in 1984 to fund nonprofit services rather than quarantine policies.
A presenter at the opening of the final section of a West Hollywood park described a new monument as a tribute to community efforts that responded to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, and recounted how the city used local tax revenue to support nonprofit care and services.
"This monument is more significant now than ever. It is the three-dimensional representation of the hard work of a generation of people who were committed to not letting an entire generation of men and women die of AIDS," the presenter said, calling the memorial a public recognition of that response.
The presenter said the city—incorporated in 1984—faced rising illness and death in the years after incorporation and lacked a municipal health infrastructure. "When the city was formed in '84, we were just beginning the death and dying and it seemed impossible to imagine how we were to take care of thousands of residents sick dying without any cure in sight," the presenter said.
Faced with that reality, the presenter said West Hollywood redirected taxpayer dollars "out of the hotels and the bars and the nightclubs and investing them in community-based organizations to deliver services." The speaker credited Jodie Curley, identified in the remarks as head of the city's human services department at the time, with proposing the approach. "She came up with that idea of taking tax money, empowering nonprofits to deliver services," the presenter said.
The presenter listed organizations that received city support and said they still serve the city: the LGBT center, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Being Alive, and Aid for AIDS. The remarks framed those investments as an alternative to punitive public-health proposals at higher levels of government.
The presenter recalled a period when federal officials were reportedly considering quarantining people with HIV and sending them to camps. Describing West Hollywood's response, the presenter said, "Not only should people not be quarantined, not only should they not be stigmatized, but they should be protected in public accommodation and work and housing."
The remarks closed with an appeal to younger residents to recognize the city's history: the presenter said many older residents felt a "big exhale" as they viewed the monument and reflected on the work done to protect and care for people living with HIV.
No formal votes or council actions were recorded during these remarks; they were presented as historical context at the park opening.
