A darkened room of students sat in silence watching the film, Rent, when College sophomore Victor Galli stood up: “Can I please request more musical lesbian break-up scenes?”
His request was met with a chorus of laughter. But though the atmosphere in the room was good-humored, the cause was quite serious.
In an effort to promote World AIDS Awareness Day yesterday, Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia, Penn Soccer and Penn AIDS Awareness teamed up to screen Rent, a movie about a group of New York bohemians struggling with, among other issues, AIDS and HIV.
“I feel like because Penn is such a well-educated school, everyone knows the dangers of unprotected sex and how you get AIDS, so it’s one of those topics that gets glossed over,” said PATH Treasurer and Wharton junior Brandon Ahler. “There’s not enough being done to support the AIDS cause.”
The clubs chose Rent, a popular modern-day musical, in an effort to attract students from “various walks of life,” said one of the presidents of Penn AIDS Awareness, Nursing junior Maya Kahn-Woods. The group also staked College Green with ribbons to commemorate the day.
Though members of all three groups offered free condoms alongside the other refreshments served at the screening, they tried to avoid preaching according to Ahler. Rather, their main intent was to prompt discussion and raise awareness for the cause.
Galli, a sophomore in the College and a member of the board for the Queer Student Alliance, said he hopes the event will “generate an impassioned response for a greater global health issue.”
However, he added that, “The actual response will be less, simply because the culture at this school is ... one in which personal success overrides that of community and global well being.”
But Ahler considers any progress worthwhile.
“Having people focused on AIDS, realizing that they can help even if it’s not a cause they are actively involved in, they just need to know that even little steps and a little involvement can go a long way,” he said.
The screening also gave the groups an opportunity to promote their upcoming Lose the Shoes 3v3 Soccer tournament, scheduled for Dec. 11. The event is sponsored by Grassroots Soccer, a non-profit organization that uses the global popularity of soccer to help teach interactive HIV prevention and life skills to youth in the world’s most HIV-affected countries. The tournament is open to anyone and all profits will go to Grassroots.
“[AIDS] is so widespread around the world but so preventable,” said Kahn-Woods, “Awareness seems to be the key to preventing it.”
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