ASU students and the Valley community took to the streets and demonstrated their support of LGBTQ rights and AIDS awareness on Saturday and Sunday in downtown Phoenix.
AIDS Walk AIDS Walk Phoenix and 5k Run, Phoenix’s third annual walk for AIDS, took place Sunday morning.
There was an outstanding ASU presence at the walk, said Kirk Baxter, Phoenix AIDS Walk chair.
“ASU students have been involved consistently since the beginning [and] this year we had a presence from both the downtown and the main campus,” Baxter said.
The walk and 5k run will benefit 19 Valley organizations.
“We will exceed $300,000 in donations,” Baxter said.
One agency that benefitted from the AIDS walk donations is HEAL International, an ASU-based group.
“The organization is on [the] ASU [campus] and became a funded agency this year,” Baxter said.
HEAL International began four years ago and is a nonprofit organization run by ASU student volunteers at the Tempe campus.
The agency promotes health literacy and provides medical supplies and health care to resource-limited communities, said Damien Salamone, executive director of HEAL International.
Baxter said this is the first year an ASU-based organization was funded by the walk.
Salamone said the donation is very helpful for HEAL International.
“We are a very grass-roots group,” he said. “We usually do car washes every semester for medical supplies in Arizona … [so] the donation is huge.”
The donated money will chiefly be going toward health literacy and medical supplies in Arizona, Salamone said.
HEAL International also participated in the AIDS walk.
“We actually were No. 8 in the top 10 fundraising teams,” Salamone said.
He said that 90 participants in Sunday’s walk were from HEAL International.
Rainbows Festival The Rainbows Festival and Street Fair is a celebration of the diversity of the LGBTQ community, according to the event’s website.
On Saturday, thousands of gays, lesbians, family members and friends ventured out into the humid 105-degree Phoenix weather to attend the eighth annual festival.
Throughout the course of Saturday and Sunday, more than 25,000 people attended the event, making it the largest LGBTQ rally in Arizona, according to the website.
Nearly 175 LGBTQ awareness and support booths were spread across the park grounds, according to the website.
Dance freshman Billie-Joe Bouey volunteered at an ASU LGBTQ Alumni Association stand.
“The [pride rally] is really good,” Bouey said. “You get to know a lot about the LGBTQ community and get information and resources.”
He said the average ASU student should know that a member of the LGBTQ community is no different than any other Sun Devil.
“Everyone in the LGBTQ community is human and they are just like everybody else,” Bouey said. “We’re everywhere in the ASU community … and we want to spread love in a positive way.”
Over the weekend multiple entertainment events took place at the Rainbows Festival, including the finals for Arizona Gay Idol.
The competition was a mock ‘American Idol,’ where Arizona vocalists competed for $1,000 and a chance for a vocal recording.
Each year, several Valley LGBTQ nonprofit organizations are selected to benefit from fundraising participation at the Rainbows Festival, according to the website.
Reach the reporter at tdmcknig@asu.edu
