The Year in HIV

October 31: The widow and sons of Seattle-area firefighter Doug Waller were presented with a medallion from the International Association of Firefighters' Fallen Firefighter Memorial, four years after he died due to contracting HIV on the job. The ceremony was to honor his death being commemorated as an on-the-job casualty, which the state of Washington declared after receiving proof that he had contracted HIV at work. He was stuck by a needle on a medical call in 2000. November 8: Steven Hirsch, co-founder of pornography giant Vivid Entertainment, announced his studio would return to production after one performer tested positive for HIV. In reaction to the positive test, several of the studios shopped production for nearly a month until other actors who came in sexual contact with the positive actor, were cleared as HIV negative by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation in Sherman Oaks, Calif. November 9: Eighteen people were arrested in New York, including state senator Thomas Duane (pictured above), protesting Gov. David Paterson's veto of a bill that would have ensured that low-wage earners with HIV would spend no more than 30% of their salary on rent. Duane was part of a die-in that blocked traffic along Broadway near City Hall in Manhattan.

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