Hoboken Celebrates Gay Pride Week with Historic Flag Raising

When Carol Ann Wilson first became Hudson County Director of Health and Human Services, she had never even heard of AIDS.

"The word was never said aloud," Wilson said. "It was always whispered."

At the same time, she said, the city of Hoboken had been ranked fifth in the world in the per capita rate of people with HIV. And Wilson had no money in her budget to face the growing epidemic. While the sexually transmitted virus does not discriminate, HIV/AIDS was often believed to be a "gay disease," adding to the taboo surrounding treatment of it.

In 1989, she headed up the Hudson County AIDS Consortium Advisory Council and led an initiative to create a community-based network of care for patients and their families. Under her leadership, Hudson County was one of four areas in the U.S. to receive a federal grant to provide HIV/AIDS services for three years. Most patients were not expected to live past 18 months of their diagnosis.

"We were the only area that sent in a grant application that had the full commitment of all of its elected officials," Wilson said, noting that every freeholder and mayor in the county, as well as several legislators signed it.

"We take care of our own," she said. "We have a strong tradition of doing that."

Cities around the world from San Francisco to Paris are celebrating Gay Pride Week with parades and other events to commemorate the struggles and triumphs of the LGBT community. On Wednesday night, Wilson served as the keynote speaker at the Hoboken Business Center's Gay Pride Celebration, joining local politicians and business people to honor the LGBT community in the Mile Square City and send a message of tolerance.

Once the pelting rain let up, the event also included the public raising of a rainbow pride flag at the top of the business center, making Hoboken the first of all 12 municipalities in the county to do so.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Greg Dell'Aquila, president of the Hoboken Business Center, flipped the giant switch to light up the building with the colors of the flag.

Also in attendance were Freeholder Anthony Romano, Councilman-At-Large Ravi Bhalla, Fourth Ward Councilman Tim Occhipinti and Democratic Chairman Jamie Cryan.

Many of those present took a moment to declare their support for marriage equality, including Zimmer who was the first Hoboken mayor to officiate a same-sex civil union at City Hall. Assemblyman Ruben Ramos vowed to do his part in the legislature to pass a same-sex marriage law in New Jersey.

"We've just begun to to fight side by side with (the LGBT community) for this," he said. "I am 100 percent supportive."

Jersey City Councilman Ray Velazquez, Jr. was also there to mark the occasion.

"We have come a long way," said the former freeholder. "The fact I was elected as an openly gay, HIV-positive man says a tremendous amount about Hudson County, the kind of county we've become."