World AIDS Day events in Long Beach, West Hollywood

Long Beach and West Hollywood will host candlelight vigils tonight for World AIDS Day.

The international event started December 1, 1988, to show support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died due to HIV/AIDS.

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LONG BEACH

In Long Beach, people will gather at 6:30 at the Long Beach LGBTQ Center before walking in candlelight to the bluffs near Junipero Avenue and Ocean Boulevard where a temporary vigil will take place observing the 35 years that HIV/AIDS has impacted the community.

Participants can bring photos or mark a ribbon in memory of a loved one. Before the ceremony ends, people will have an opportunity to share names, memories, and tributes of loved ones.

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WEST HOLLYWOOD

West Hollywood’s candlelight vigil will start at 6 at the Matthew Shepard Human Rights Triangle, which is located at the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards. Candles will be provided.

Marchers will pass by plaques on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk on Santa Monica Boulevard, which memorializes people who have died from HIV/AIDS.

The march will end at West Hollywood City Council Chambers inside the West Hollywood Library on San Vicente Boulevard.

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

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