Atlanta Becomes the Center of Black LGBTQ+ HIV Advocacy

In time for Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on August 20, Atlanta is hosting the Saving Ourselves Symposium (SOS) — a landmark four-day gathering presented by the Southern AIDS Coalition that will unite the Black LGBTQ+ community for collective action, research sharing, and meaningful connection around the ongoing fight against HIV in the South.

About the Symposium

Running from August 20 to 23 at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest, the Saving Ourselves Symposium is one of the most important gatherings of the year for Black LGBTQ+ advocates, HIV community members, healthcare providers, and policy experts across the South and nationwide. This year's theme — Collective Action for Collective Impact — is an explicit call to move beyond conversation and into coordinated strategy, shared accountability, and cross-sector collaboration that produces real, measurable change in communities.

The symposium's four-day itinerary includes plenaries, skills-building workshops, strategic planning sessions, and a rich array of community events, including:

• A Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day reception at Atlanta City Hall on August 20
• A red carpet gala honoring community leaders and frontline advocates
• A Queer Soul Brunch celebrating Black culture, community, and collective joy
• Skills-building sessions on advocacy, research, and organizational strategy

Why This Matters for Atlanta's Black Community

The Southern United States bears a disproportionate and devastating share of the HIV epidemic's burden, and within the South, Black and LGBTQ+ communities face the highest rates of new infections. Atlanta sits at the very center of this public health reality — making the city not just a fitting, but a necessary home for this gathering of advocates determined to change these outcomes.

Among the participating organizations is the Normal Anomaly Initiative, which creates barrier-reducing, narrative-changing resources for marginalized people — a mission that speaks directly to the compounding challenges facing Black LGBTQ+ community members who navigate both racial and identity-based barriers to healthcare access, housing, and safety.

Collective Action for Collective Impact

The symposium's theme reflects a growing and urgent recognition within advocacy communities that real change requires more than awareness — it requires organized, strategic, sustained, coordinated action across sectors. Participants will work together to build coordinated advocacy strategies, identify critical gaps in services and resources, and forge the cross-sector relationships needed to drive meaningful improvements in health outcomes for Black LGBTQ+ community members across the South.

The gathering comes at a particularly urgent moment. Massive cuts to Medicaid — a program on which Black Americans depend at disproportionate rates — combined with the erosion of DEI programs in healthcare institutions have made this year's symposium not just important, but indispensable.

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: August 20

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, observed annually on August 20, shines a national spotlight on the HIV epidemic's devastating and disproportionate impact on Southern communities. The South accounts for more than half of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States — and within the South, Black Americans carry the greatest burden. In Atlanta, community organizations, healthcare providers, and advocates are calling on all residents to learn their status, support those living with HIV, and push loudly for expanded access to testing, treatment, and prevention resources.

How to Get Involved

For Atlanta residents who want to stand with the Saving Ourselves Symposium and the broader HIV advocacy community:

• Attend the Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day reception at Atlanta City Hall on August 20
• Connect with local HIV testing and prevention resources — and get tested
• Support organizations like the Southern AIDS Coalition and the Normal Anomaly Initiative
• Use August 20 as a personal moment of action: know your status, support your community

Atlanta's Black community has always shown up for its most vulnerable members. The Saving Ourselves Symposium is a powerful reminder that this work continues — and that collective action is the only path to collective impact.