Broadway star and Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has been added to a slate of celebrities and community leaders who will appear at a virtual event on Wednesday, December 17, benefitting The Reunion Project, an alliance of HIV/AIDS survivors. 

“Mark is 65” will commemorate the 65th birthday of 40-year HIV survivor Mark S. King while shining a spotlight on all long-term HIV/AIDS survivors. 

Ms. Ralph joins Demetre Daskalakis, MD, a former CDC health official who resigned in protest; Broadway star and activist Javier Muñoz, who is openly living with HIV; Michael Gottlieb, MD, the physician who wrote the first report in 1981 about a strange illness that would come to be known as AIDS; Marnina Miller, co-director of Positive Women’s Network USA; trans HIV activist and icon Cecilia Chung; activist Peter Staley; and a wide collection of community leaders and people living with HIV/AIDS who will appear during the one-hour party. The event will be hosted by HIV writer and personality Charles Sanchez.

The free event will offer “joy, plenty of folks teasing Mark, and a real sense of purpose about the importance of using our collective voice during this time,” said Jeff Berry, executive director of The Reunion Project. “Long-term HIV/AIDS survivors have tremendous resilience, are often on the front lines of advocacy, and our sense of humor sustains us. All of those things will be on full display during this special event – and there are plenty of fun surprises in store as well.”

The event will stream live on Wednesday, December 17, at 8:00PM EST, on Facebook, YouTube, and on King’s website, My Fabulous Disease. For more information or register free, visit www.Markis65.com. Registrants will also receive a link to an “after party” on Zoom.