People gathered at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park June 5 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first reported AIDS cases and to solemnly view portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and remember those lives lost.
It was June 5, 1981 that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles.
Over the ensuing years, thousands of people died from the disease, including gay men, women, trans people, hemophiliacs, and injection drug users.
During a morning ceremony, officials laid a wreath in the Circle of Friends and viewed the quilt's 6000th block. In the afternoon, the public was invited to