Noon to 1:30: Positive: A Tale of Two Pandemics– Vendor Tent area in downtown Urbana

Our own Jerry Carden will share what it was like forty years ago, in 1981 when the gay male community was beginning to hear news about a Gay Plague, or Gay Cancer striking those in larger cities. In 1985 he served as founding chair of the local Gay Community AIDS Project. Mike Benner is currently Executive Director for what is now called the Greater Community AIDS Project. Julie Pryde cut her teeth as a newly graduated MSW working at Public Health on their HIV/AIDS testing program. They will be contrasting the two pandemics and allow time for questions. 

1:30 to 2:30: LGBTQ History Harvest Project– Phillips Recreation Center, Springfield Ave. Urbana

Jerry will be on hand to share a project that started three years ago with a history class at the U of I, taught by Prof. Kathryn Oberdeck, the classes interest in local LGBTQ history, and how it’s grown from a website, to include an upcoming exhibit of AIDS quilt panels at the Spurlock Museum to commemorate 40 years of AIDS/HIV; and also the creation of a documentary being prepared by WILL and Illinois Public Media, a project by Kimberlie Kranich and Jerry. The workshop will focus especially on the different aspects of the website still in progress. We’ll be talking a lot about many folks that have either passed or no longer live here. A trip down memory lane!

Other workshops can be found by checking Uniting Pride’s special website which features three days worth of events.