By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
DOWNTOWN — Raul Baez watched a brother, two uncles, his brother's wife, two brother-in-laws, four friends and a cousin lose their lives to AIDS in the span of 20 years.
On Wednesday morning, through a haze of rain and wind, Baez, 49, read those names and 10 pages of others at City Hall Park.
"It's emotional," Baez said after stepping down from one of five podiums, where participants read names simultaneously. "It's a way to pay tribute to my friends and relatives … it's a way to reflect my blessings, because I myself have been vulnerable many times."
Baez, who sorts donations for Housing Works thrift shops, said he is one of nearly 600 staff, clients and volunteers participating in a 24-hour vigil for World AIDS Day.
This marks the 16th year that the multi-service AIDS advocacy group has hosted the vigil. A candle lighting and gathering hosted from 6 p.m. by Chelsea's Gay Mens Health Crisis Center will also mark the day.
New Yorkers watching the skies may also notice the Empire State Building, New York Stock Exchange, Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Brooklyn Borough Hall and JFK Control Tower, all light up in red to mark World AIDS Day. The NASDAQ Marquis in Times Square and NASDAQ OMX at the NASDAQ MarketSite Tower will also transmit their messages in red.
"People are still ignorant of what AIDS really means." Vanna Kham, a 27-year-old Housing Works nurse from the Upper East Side, said as she listened to the names called out at City Hall. "They still think it's a disease of only homosexuals … or they think it's passed by kissing."
For Baez, the resilience of misconceptions like those highlight the need for increased education. He said that as a whole, the degree of knowledge most New Yorkers have about AIDS is not sufficient.
"People are out there having sex like there's nothing to worry about, like this is the already behind us," he said. "The young people especially, they have no idea of the consequences."
