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Honoring Annual Asian Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on May 17, 2007

By Noel Alumit

LOS ANGELES-The third annual National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day will be observed on May 17, 2007. National Asian Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is sponsored by the Banyan Tree Project, a community program supported by the Centers for Disease Control, local HIV and AIDS outreach organizations across the United States, and sponsored by the Tony Cox Community Fund and Time Warner Cable. In many Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, the banyan tree, with branches that continually shoot out new roots into the ground, symbolizes anchorage and building community. It is also the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment.

The aim of the awareness day is to reduce discrimination and stigma associated with HIV and AIDS in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. The Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Southern California's largest provider of HIV/AIDS services to Asian and Pacific Islanders, will hold a press conference and community discussion, inviting community members to learn more about AIDS and watch a new Public Service Announcement about the disease. HIV-positive actor Rodney Kageyama and Guam Communications Network Executive Director Lola Sablan Santos are scheduled to participate.

After the press conference, audience members are encouraged to stay for another event co-sponsored by APAIT. The event is "We Do, Too", a forum to discuss Marriage Equality in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Actor George Takei, Activist Helen Zia, and Actor James Sie are scheduled to participate.

The press conference will start at 6pm and "We Do, Too" will begin at 7pm. Both events will be held at the Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 North Central Avenue, 90012, in Little Tokyo. For information contact: Noel Alumit at 213-553-1899.