FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8 NOVEMBER 2025

Contact:  Susan MacNeil, susan@svidol.com

 

Bellows Falls Pride and the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont

Welcome Singer/Songwriter, Dr. Taronte Venable for World AIDS Day Event on December 4

 

(Bellows Falls VT) Dr. Taronte Venable, certified chiropractic neurologist and owner of Temple Chiropractic in Bellows Falls, is also a singer songwriter embarking on performing publicly.  Bellows Falls Pride is delighted to invite him to join the program on December 4 at the Rockingham Free Public Library where a 12’x12’ section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display from 11am-8pm.  The event is free and open to the public. The Quilt will be displayed in the third-floor meeting room at the library, which is elevator accessible.  

 

The iconic AIDS Memorial Quilt has signified loss and love like no other memorial for the last 40 years.  Since 1985 when the Quilt was conceived by Cleve Jones, it has served to provide context as a teaching tool for a generation that cannot comprehend the enormity of AIDS pandemic devastation in the world. This year, the Quilt section will include a panel for Brattleboro resident, Ron Squires, who made history as Vermont’s first openly gay legislator, representing the towns of Guilford and Vernon. A tireless advocate, he championed legislation to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians before his untimely death from AIDS-related illness in 1993.

 

The day-long event focuses on the acknowledgment of World AIDS Day and features several partners.  The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, located in Brattleboro and Bennington, Vermont will provide information and walk-in HIV/Hep C testing free of charge throughout the day.  At 6:15pm, Venable will perform songs of love and loss that personify the AIDS pandemic, followed by Attorney Michael Haley from GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders - GLAD Law, at 7pm.  Haley has worked on two lawsuits challenging the administration’s ban on transgender military service, as well as cases challenging employer discrimination against transgender employees, and GLAD Law’s first-in-the-nation challenge to the executive order attempting to bar transgender girls from sports. He has been a part of legislative efforts in both New Hampshire and Vermont and will offer updates for the coming session.

 

Venable grew up in Rockville, Maryland and has been singing in choirs since the age of 5. He became an Eagle Scout in 2015 and was a participating member and board member of the Stonewall Chorale in New York City for three years. In 2023, he moved to Vermont for a change of pace and to live closer to the outdoor activities he enjoys, including snowboarding, hiking, kayaking and camping.

 

The purpose of World AIDS Day is to engage communities in understanding, compassion and hope throughout the world using this powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic and the 36 million people who have died from AIDS worldwide.

 

More than 50,000 individual 3’ x 6’ memorial panels – each one commemorating the lives of people who have died of AIDS – have been sewn together by friends, lovers and family members. The Quilt weighs 56 tons, spans 1.2 million feet and includes more than 125,000 names. It is now too large to display on the National Mall in Washington DC.

 

View the Quilt: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/interactive-aids-quilt   To arrange a time for a group viewing, please contact Susan MacNeil at susan@svidol.com.  For more information, visit https://www.aidsprojectsouthernvermont.org/     www.bellowsfallspride.com

https://lgbthotline.org/com     www.TaronteVenable.com

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