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THE AIDS MEMORIAL

@theaidsmemorial

3 days ago
Co Creator: ripvanmodern
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, portable cassette player, beach and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, hair and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, blonde hair, people smiling, eyeglasses and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of speedboat and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, biceps and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of costume and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of wine glass, dinner jacket and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, bangs and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of standing, portable cassette player and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of climbing, standing, snow and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, biceps, people smiling and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of fishnet stockings, miniskirt, portable cassette player, eye patch, glasses, cigarette and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of overcoat, duffle coat, Christmas stocking, bath robe, snowsuit, robe, turtleneck, cloak, costume and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, biceps, polaroid, underwear, tanktop, portable cassette player and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of dragonfly, frisbee, banjo, tambourine and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of one or more people, blonde hair, underwear and text.
Photo by THE AIDS MEMORIAL on October 14, 2026. May be an image of text.
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Posted On: October 14th 2026, 09:43 pm
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@ripvanmodern
ripvanmodern
🇺🇸 “That is what AIDS is after all, isn’t it? One long set of disappearing acts.

First is watching the friend and family disappear.

Second act is when people try to disappear you.

Third act is watching your body vanish from itself and wondering where the FUCK you going, piece by piece, until all of you gone. I swear to God, at one point I used to think people with AIDS evaporate.

If there is a fourth act it’s when everybody erase your name as if you were never born in the first place.” 📖Jordan Brown, in Marlon James’ THE DISAPPEARERS

Photos: Ralph Cutler, Charlie Milhaupt. Peter Reed, James Ford, Peter Trout, Don Ruddy and Edgardo, Michael Norgart, Michael Young, LA Tony, Mark Isaacson, Harrison Cultra, Tony Hamilton, Carl, Ft Lauderdale Bobby, James Ford, Don Ruddy, me, Peter Reed.

Don’t let their light disappear. 📖 by Mark McDonald @ripvanmodern #whatisrememberedlives
Comments (100)
venonime 3 hours ago

venonime

❤️❤️❤️

kajjeanson 4 hours ago

kajjeanson

❤️❤️❤️

the_rocknrollkabaret 4 hours ago

the_rocknrollkabaret

💙

leatherwings140363 12 hours ago

leatherwings140363

❤️❤️❤️

merotte974 14 hours ago

merotte974

💔🙏

kennethsteiner16 20 hours ago

kennethsteiner16

❤️❤️❤️❤️

abraxa147 a day ago

abraxa147

❤️

mjsw.67 a day ago

mjsw.67

❤️🌹🌈🦁🦁🌈🌹❤️

ian_m_johns a day ago

ian_m_johns

❤️

haf.nyc a day ago

haf.nyc

💜🌟

fastlanekelly a day ago

fastlanekelly

May they Rest In Peace 🙏🏻

john01890 a day ago

john01890

❤️

krizarm a day ago

krizarm

Powerful words @ripvanmodern...they will never disappear. They are remembered 💜🩷💙🩵

hunkydoryvintage 2 days ago

hunkydoryvintage

❤️❤️❤️

valckesergehenri 2 days ago

valckesergehenri

🥀

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🇺🇸 Curt Dawson (1939 – 1985) was an actor who died of AIDS at Bellevue Hospital in NYC. He was 45 years old. Born in Kansas, Curt graduated from @emporiastate University and from the @royalacademyofdramaticart in London. On Broadway Curt appeared in ‘’Sleuth’’ (1973), “Absurd Person Singular’’ (1975), and Au Pair Man’’ (1973). His Off Broadway credits include ‘’Boys in the Band’’ (1969), and “42d Street’’ (1980). Curt television roles include ‘’As the World Turns,’’ ‘’The Guiding Light,’’ ‘’Another World’, “Search for Tomorrow,’’ and “The Adams Chronicles.’’ Curt had romantic relationships with actor @ianmckellen and author @thearmisteadmaupin who wrote in his book “Logical Family: A Memoir,” “Curt died of AIDS in 1985. By then, because of AIDS, I was a fierce foe of the closet, so it bothered me when his New York Times obituary reported that he had died of complications resulting from cancer. I suspect that was done for the folks back in Kansas.” Jessica Collier told @theaidsmemorial, “Curt was my uncle, my dad’s brother. He died when I was a little over 2 years old. I was told it was cancer until we went to the AIDS Quilt in the early 90’s and saw my grandmother, his mother, break down. A million stories about him from my family and he’s the main reason I moved to NYC years ago. A light that went out in our family for sure.” 📍The AIDS Memorial would love to hear from anyone who knew or remembers Curt. #whatisrememberedlives
🇫🇷🇮🇹 “Mark A. Gebeau was my partner in the early 90s. All French/Italian. More beautiful inside than … Well he was quite a showpiece and that trait made it easy to walk up on him at a Spring Pool Party. I went fireworks WILD for him over the oddest thing. He folded his towel, put it on a webbed chair - and he patted it in place. Two pats. Then he looked out over the gathering of people I knew but it didn’t seem he did. I did everything I could to give fate a push and get this man’s attention. I felt I was being so cool. Later Mark told me he thought I was marginally interesting and since I was so persistent, he thought he’d just shorten my misery. Our first Date was some months later on Valentine’s Day. The first few years we tried restaurants but … on Valentine’s Day we cooked deliciously complicated food together at home and had a ball. For the first 5 years my life was like the last 4 pages of a romance novel. The time in between was full of travel. My interests. His. I’d just get finished paying off an adventure and he’d have another cooked up scheme. And off we went. We loved our house. A good address with problems around every corner. We fixed all that and had magnificent gardens. We made some money during the day-to-day. We were one step this side of A-Gays. The right friends. Donating to the right causes. Seen on the right day at the right place. We were serodiscordant. There came a time when the virus attacked Mark’s brain. It started with small changes such as his driving habits. It became larger with an insistence to leave town though our lives were so anchored. Mark moved to San Francisco without me. The inhibitors became available at the same time and I understand he was yanked back to reality and did very well. Mark Gebeau. He gave me the best years of my life yet, things ... he died of “complications” three years after he left and I doubt the virus let him remember being with me at all.” 📖 by Mark Little #whatisrememberedlives
🇺🇸 “This is my brother, Robert (1967 - 1988), who passed days after my mom got out of the hospital from a brain aneurysm. He came to the hospital to visit her and that was the last time I actually saw him. My mom knew it when Robert passed. I was with her when she said he passed before anyone told her. No one actually knew about his HIV status. My mother told me about it when we were at the Taste of Chicago 1987. She asked if I was gay, then told me about my brother being bi. Robert was taking care of friends who were dying from AIDS. Christmas 1987, I saw him and didn’t put one and one together when I noticed he had lost weight. Robert never made it to his 21st birthday. We never got to have an open casket. He passed from a few things that meant a closed casket. So I honor him with the remembrance.” 📖 by Edward Hazelton #whatisrememberedlives
🇺🇸 “In 1976, when I was born, my cousin carried me home from the hospital. He was 10. In 1991, my family carried him home. He was 24. I was 14. He died from complications from AIDS. The story is a long one and I will spare you from the details of what it’s like to sit with someone who is dying of AIDS, but it is a story that shaped my life and is a big part of who I am today. His mother was not in his life and his father, my mother’s brother died when Donnie was 2. He spent many years coming to live with us as a child. When he was hospitalized with AIDS, the women in my life; mother, aunts, and grandma brought him home in their laps in the backseat of a car, just like he brought me home from the hospital. Wrapped in love. As a kid, Donnie LOVED to swim! He was on swim teams in middle school and high school, earning medals and ribbons in competitive meets. He loved teasing all us younger cousins and, as a hairstylist, loved trying to give us punk rock haircuts. AIDS hadn’t really hit our small town in the early 90s and there was still tremendous fear and stimga around it. The unknowns. However, the night the ladies brought him home, hospice volunteers and my grandmother’s dear friend Dr Lam swept into the house bold and fearless like angels bringing the necessary medical equipment needed to care for someone in a terminal state. Throngs of friends and neighbors surrounded us with love, food, and their steady embrace. We saw a community of people helping someone pass with dignity. Zero judgement, just heart based action. My grandmother, a nurse, started the first support group for people living with AIDS in our community. She and her friends at the Chaplaincy realized our community needed a hospice house and over a three year period with donations from the community, and built entirely by volunteers, the 10 bed hospice house was dedicated in November of 1996. Valued at 2 million dollars, it was mortgage free. A testament to Love.” 📖 by Sarah Kerr @barndogflowerfarm #whatisrememberedlives
🇺🇸 “I’ve talked a little about Michael in my previous post about my brother on @theaidsmemorial, but I feel he deserves a post of his own. This is Michael J. Smyth. He was born on May 8, 1943, and passed away on October 27, 1988. Michael and my brother Brian lived together at 337 West 14th Street in New York City. They also owned a home in Coxsackie, New York, which they had been remodeling. I’m not sure what Michael did for a living, although one of my other brothers remembers him as the Road Manager for David Bowie. I also don’t know if he had any family members who may still be living. I believe there were possibly four immediate family members at his memorial service. I remember Michael as a kind and gentle person who was very good to my brother. I have been trying to learn more about his life and the years he and Brian shared together. If you knew Michael, or remember him or Brian, I would love to hear from you. Please say hello and share anything you might remember ❤️” 📖 by Maura Mathews O’Brien #whatisrememberedlives
🇦🇷 “This beautiful Argentinian boy was my best friend Miguel. The last time I met him, he was skinny as never before, wearing a thick coat on a warm spring day, and he couldn’t eat without feeling sick. He insisted that he had coeliac disease. I clearly knew it wasn’t that. Miguel got HIV in 2004, or at least he told me about it that year. I remember that we were walking on the beach when he told me. I was shocked, sad and worried. Miguel was doing fine, he was taking his medicine, going to the gym, travelling, going out, falling in love … until 2011. After always laughing about my spiritual or mystical inclination, hating my tarot cards, my holistic way of seeing the world, suddenly he became crazy about it. And I mean crazy because he stopped taking his HIV medicine. By that time Miguel’s viral load was low, or zero, and he started saying that those pills were killing him and he stopped taking them. He started saying that HIV didn’t exist and even paid for a session with a dissident doctor just to explain that to me. I almost believed it, I must say. Miguel remained well for a few years. Having HIV was such a heavy cross for him to carry until the consequences started to reveal. “Miguel, please, you are going to die if you don’t do something.” I told him that the last time we saw each other. But he denied having HIV until his last breath on December 24, 2018, and taking away with him every desire of celebrating Christmas. Miguel was like a father to my son, the only one who could make laugh until my stomach hurt, he was my first call, for every difficult situation; my closest friend, even though we were living in different countries. I had to tell Miguel’s family what was going on after that last time I saw him so thin and trembling. But it was too late already. He didn’t want to be helped. Sometimes I think it was easier for him to die than to live. He was so intense, too intense. I know he suffered a lot, hiding, lying, being alone. I also know that he enjoyed his life with that same intensity. I love you Miguel. I hope you are having fun somewhere out there.” 📖 by Ana #whatisrememberedlives
تقدیم کن به پرستاری که میشناسی ...ولادت حضرت زینب وروز پرستار مبارک✨🌿 . . #روزپرستار #ولادت_حضرت_زینب
#праздник #помощь #семья #любовь #сила
CHAPTER VIII: a little closer to heaven. blessed beneath one of the seven wonders of the world, with my hometown at our feet and the love of my life by my side. getting to share this moment with our families, in the city that raised me, made it unforgettable. 🤍 photos: @rodrigosackfotografia @alebigliazzi @fiducia.ae @g.fvi
Never give up keep pushing 💪 هرگز تسلیم نشو .به تلاش ادامه بده. یک تمرین با علی اشراقی از قهرمانان کشور در باشگاه چلنجر کراسفیت اصفهان خیابان میر هلال احمر. @challengers_crossfit @a_eshraqi
Memang support system itu penting banget yaa 🥺🥺 untung aja gak jadi mundur 😍😍 congrats queen 👑 PL jangan lupa kawal terus perjalanan @listaputrial ya menuju Miss World 2027 di Tanzania🇹🇿 #missworld2027 #MissWorldIndonesia2026 #fyp #MissWorld
TNHT Staff: @hausofaaron __________________ Neighbors, the University of Maryland has suspended its club tennis team after racist imagery was included in program materials emailed to other university tennis clubs ahead of a weekend tournament. __________________ According to reports, the graphic depicted Ku Klux Klan hood masks with eyeholes in the top-right and lower-left quadrants of the Maryland state flag. Howard University, a historically Black university, was among the teams that received the materials. __________________ UMD said it was “horrified” by the incident and expressed “its regret and sincere apology for the harm that this has caused.” Officials also referred the matter to campus police and the Office of Student Conduct. __________________ Meanwhile, Howard’s club tennis team is calling for further accountability, including a public apology, a formal investigation to identify who created the graphic, and sensitivity training for Maryland club team leaders and advisers. The team also wants tournament funds donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Thoughts? 😠🎥: @fox5dc *We don’t condone bullying, violence, or hate speech.*
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