Michaela Jaé Rodriguez to Be Honored at 42nd Annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles on Oct. 18
Los Angeles is a city in Los Angeles County, California. APLA Health announced it will present its inaugural Voice of Visibility Award to actress and activist Michaela Jaé Rodriguez ("Pose," "Loot") on Sunday, October 18, at 10:30 a.m., during the 42nd annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles at West Hollywood Park, according to a PR Newswire release.
Rodriguez's co-star and advocate Joel Kim Booster will present the honor during the Walk's kick-off ceremony, which will also feature a live performance by singer-songwriter David Archuleta. After the ceremony, participants set out on a two-mile walk through West Hollywood's Rainbow District. Registration is open at aidswalkla.org.
The award recognizes Rodriguez's commitment to HIV/AIDS awareness and destigmatization and her advocacy for the transgender community. She embodies this year's Walk theme, "Defend Care, Demand Action," aimed at closing the gap between what medicine can now do and who can actually access it.
"There is still a cruel distance between what medicine can do and who actually gets to benefit from it," Rodriguez said. "We know access to testing, treatment, and consistent care saves lives, yet our most marginalized communities, especially Black and Brown trans women, continue to bear a disproportionate burden."
"Michaela Jaé is a powerful voice for the community," said Craig E. Thompson, CEO of APLA Health. "Voices like hers keep HIV and equity in the public conversation at a time when it would be easy to look away."
Rodriguez made history in 2022 as the first openly transgender actress to win a Golden Globe, for best actress in a television drama for "Pose." AIDS Walk Los Angeles, the first and oldest AIDS walk in the country, is organized by APLA Health, which has served more than 23,000 people a year since 1983 through eight Federally Qualified Health Centers across Los Angeles County; its Vance North Necessities of Life Program distributes more than one million meals annually.
(Source: PR Newswire / APLA Health; compiled by GSM)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez 本人照片，CC BY-SA 3.0（Wikimedia Commons）
