On Thursday November 29, Gay Community News will mark 30 years of World AIDS Day with a fundraising event in Smock Alley Theatre. The event will see Queen of Ireland Panti Bliss in conversation with the trailblazing Professor Fiona Mulcahy as they discuss the legacy of AIDS activism in Ireland.

The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1, is ‘Know Your Status’.

The hour-long conversation, which is hosted in partnership with HIV Ireland, will explore the legacy of AIDS activism in Ireland across four decades, the changing landscape of medical research and the new challenges in light of the recent HIV infection spike in Ireland.

World AIDS Day is an international day dedicated to raising awareness for AIDS and HIV, as well as mourning those who have died from the illness.

New HIV diagnoses in Ireland remain at their highest ever rates, with the Health Protection Surveillance Centres’ latest data revealing that there has been no decline on 2017 figures. On average Ireland sees a new HIV diagnosis every 18 hours, 10 a week, or over 500 a year. 8,341 people have been diagnosed with HIV in Ireland since the early 1980’s. 

Professor Fiona Mulcahy is the Medical Director of the Department of Genitourinary Medicine and Infectious Diseases at St James’ Hospital as well as being a university professor at Trinity College Dublin. Mulcahy was appointed as a consultant in genitourinary medicine and HIV medicine at St James’ in 1987. She is also the chairperson of the National AIDS Strategy Committee on Care and Management and a member of the National Advisory Committee for Sexual Health Strategy and management of Blood Borne Diseases.

Ireland’s foremost drag queen and owner of Pantibar on Capel Street Panti Bliss has been heavily involved in LGBT+ activism for several decades. In 2015 she became the subject of the documentary film The Queen of Ireland.

Tickets are available from Eventbrite.