While the Trump administration opted to no longer acknowledge World AIDS Day, breaking the government’s 38-year streak of commemorating the epidemic that has taken nearly 44.1 million lives globally according to the World Health Organization, local LGBTQIA+ organizations Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Lifelong AIDS Alliance brought community members together on December 3 for a free viewing of the 1986 film Parting Glances at the Northwest Film Forum in Capitol Hill.    

With the seats nearly packed with a multigenerational group of attendees, Warren Leyh, vice president of client services at Lifelong, gave a speech about his organization and why it is so important we remember the past. He listed the programs and services Lifelong continues to offer people with chronic illnesses, including housing, case management, and its food and nutrition program, the Chicken Soup Brigade. 

“I also teach a course on understanding HIV/AIDS at Highline College,” Leyh added. He described how most students in his class admit to knowing very little at first, and expressed concern that without continued awareness building, communities may be doomed to repeat a traumatic past. He also acknowledged how the Trump administration’s refusal to commemorate World AIDS Day harms the cause that disabled, BIPOC, and Transgender people continue to be disproportionately impacted by. 

Leyh drew parallels between his organization and Parting Glances, noting that Lifelong was founded the same year that the film was made — 1986. He added that the interpersonal struggles depicted in the film were emblematic of what led the Seattle Queer community to create Lifelong.

Three Dollar Bill Cinema Board Secretary Lindy Boustedt also spoke at the event, and gave a call to action to the audience, saying that, in light of current events, “we need to come together.” 

She acknowledged the biopharmaceutical company Gilead’s help in making the film viewing free for the public, and said Three Dollar Bill Cinema was interested in holding more community screenings like this in the future.