Old South Church Celebrates 30 Years of AIDS Walk Boston

On Saturday, June 13, head to the Old South Church in Boston at 10 a.m. for the Pride Morning Worship service, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of AIDS Walk Boston and kick off Boston Pride.

"As a progressive Christian, I seek to live after the ways of Jesus: to care as he cared, to show compassion and unconditional regard, to befriend those who know weariness in body or in soul and accompany them on their journeys to wholeness," said Rev. Anthony T. Livolsi. "And as a gay man, all too aware that many in the LGBTQ community persist in casting HIV-positive persons as lepers and pariahs, I know there is yet a need for the tenderness and spiritual companionship Jesus taught."

We are POZitively Proud to gather as LGBTQ people of faith and, on this 30th Anniversary of AIDS Walk Boston, celebrate the mighty strides made in preventing, treating, and understanding HIV/AIDS. We will honor three heroes of HIV/AIDS research and advocacy: Larry Kessler, founding director of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts; Dr. Kenneth Mayer, founder, Co-Chair, and Medical Research Director of The Fenway Institute; and Rev. Irene Monroe, author, scholar, and motivational speaker.

Larry Kessler is the founding director of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, New England's oldest and largest AIDS service organization. Since 1983, AAC has been a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, advocating at the city, state, and federal levels for fair and effective AIDS policies, conducting cutting edge HIV prevention programs, and providing health and wellness services to people already living with HIV. And annually, since 1986, AAC hosts AIDS Walk Boston & 5K Run, the largest community fundraiser and awareness event for HIV/AIDS in New England, supporting its innovative programs and services.

Dr. Kenneth Mayer is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, and Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Director of HIV Prevention Research there. He is the founder, Co-Chair, and Medical Research Director of The Fenway Institute, the research, training and health policy division of Fenway Health, the largest ambulatory facility caring for HIV-infected patients in New England.

Rev. Irene Monroe is a Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist whose columns appear in 43 cities across the country and in the U.K and Canada. She has been profiled in O magazine, and she appears in the film "For the Bible Tells Me So," an exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.

We also welcome Voices Rising, a Boston-area women's chorus founded upon feminist principles of community, inclusivity, activism, and education.

Before you set your feet to marching, come let your spirit soar!

After the service, the group will meet at 11:30 in the chapel before lining up outside in a group to march in the Boston Pride Parade, beginning at noon in Copley Square and ending in City Hall Plaza. To join, RSVP to [email protected].

The Pride Morning Worship will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 13 at the Old South Church in Boston, corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets at the Copley T.

For information, visit http://www.oldsouth.org/events/pride-morning-worship-0