FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Marvin Anderson ([email protected])
Southern AIDS Coalition Announces Aquarius Gilmer
as Senior Manager of Government Affairs & Advocacy
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. January 9, 2019 — The Southern AIDS Coalition (SAC) is pleased to announce Aquarius Gilmer as its new Senior Manager of Government Affairs and Advocacy.
Gilmer received his Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and his Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Bioethics from Tuskegee University. Prior to joining SAC, Gilmer served as Regional Resource Network Consultant within the Regional Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Representing the Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy (OHAIDP), Gilmer was responsible for leading and organizing regional OASH efforts around HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and LGBTQ health in five states and the District of Columbia. In 2016 Gilmer became the first openly gay man to be ordained as Reverend of a mainline Baptist church in the Harlem community of New York City.
“Advocacy has always played a critical role in mobilizing the response to the HIV epidemic and is at the very heart of our organization,” said SAC Executive Director Nic Carlisle. “With the addition of Aquarius, we are poised to elevate the South and our issues in an unprecedented way in the coming years.”
In his role as Senior Manager of Government Affairs and Advocacy, Gilmer will be responsible for managing SAC’s federal, state, and local efforts to secure systemic policy changes and strategic investments necessary to reduce HIV-related health disparities and promote greater health equity among people living with or at heightened risk for HIV.
“As a native North Carolinian, I know that we are currently engaged in a battle for the soul of the 21st century South, one that must be grounded in inclusion, justice, access, and equity,” says Gilmer. “By organizing, leading, and influencing grasstops leaders to center the most socially marginalized people among us, we can transform systems of care, create safer environments, and advance public policies that distribute resources more equitably.”
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About the Southern AIDS Coalition: SAC is a non-partisan coalition of government, community, and business leaders working alongside thousands of individual members to end the HIV epidemic in the South. We do this through intersectional advocacy; capacity building assistance; PLHIV leadership development; research and evaluation; and strategic grantmaking. To learn more or to join us, visit www.southernaidscoalition.org.
