ACON turns 25

Over the past two and a half decades ACON has risen to the numerous challenges the HIV/AIDS virus has brought to our communities. While the organisation's work has been most strongly felt within the GLBTI community, ACON has always supplied unwavering support for the mainstream community and the sex industry workers sector.

Made up of key staff and a diverse community of volunteers, ACON has spearheaded some of the most effective campaigns targeting HIV/AIDS in the country, all the while supporting those living with HIV/AIDS with care when it has been needed, assistance when requested and encouragement throughout.

While discrimination towards those in our community living with HIV/AIDS has decreased since ACON first launched, it does in many ways still exist. ACON has worked closely with individuals and organisations not only to address this discrimination, but to quash it where it exists.

In 1996 the introduction of anti-retrovirals altered the nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, giving people living with HIV/AIDS a prognosis that was not afforded to those affected by the virus only a few years earlier. People were now living well with HIV/AIDS, but this step forward also meant a possible step back in terms of how HIV negative people viewed the virus they once feared.

ACON stepped up to the plate by delivering campaigns that focused on the message of HIV prevention in the context of sex, relationships, mental health, housing, alcohol and drugs, and even violence. These messages were aimed to get individuals to make healthier lifestyle choices.

ACON's campaigns have ranged from fun and playful to controversial and often risqué. However, they have always turned heads and put the spotlight on the issue that continues to affect communities every day.

Time Out Sydney has been honoured to work with ACON on a variety of levels and has been proud to run the kind of confronting campaigns that mainstream magazines often shy away from.

We would like to thank ACON for 25 years of outstanding work and wish them every success in the future.

Visit ACON's official site for more about campigns and services

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