World AIDs Day
Dear Friends,
On World AIDS Day, we pause to remember a chapter of our shared history that continues to form the heart of Sojourn’s calling.
Sojourn Chaplaincy was born on the AIDS wards at San Francisco General Hospital in 1982. In those early years, too many of our gay, queer, and trans siblings were dying in the shadows of stigma and fear. It was through their lives — their courage, their love, their insistence on dignity, and ultimately their deaths — that they became the spiritual ancestors of this chaplaincy. They shaped the way Sojourn understands presence, solidarity, and the sacredness of every person we accompany.
“The AIDS epidemic hit like lightning and cracked everything open. We found ourselves at the epicenter, and we had to do more. People were suffering and dying, and they weren’t Episcopalian — they were everyone. So we realized we had to change, to become an interfaith ministry, because our call was to the humanity in front of us.”
— Bishop Bill Swing, Sojourn Cofounder
The early chaplains of Sojourn showed up when others were afraid to enter the room. They sat at bedsides when families had shunned, held hands when touch was considered dangerous, and listened to stories the world was refusing to hear. The people they accompanied — the ones who died, the ones who fought, the ones who survived — are part of Sojourn’s lineage. Their memory guides our work to this day.
We are living, once again, in a time marked by scapegoating and marginalization. The forms have shifted, but the pattern remains painfully familiar: fear is used as a weapon, vulnerable communities are pushed to the edges, and people are left carrying burdens they should never have to bear alone.
Today, we accompany people living with HIV, and we also stand with those facing other crises — trans and gender-diverse people navigating discrimination, immigrants seeking safety and freedom from the threat of ICE and appalling detainment, families grieving unimaginable losses, staff carrying emotional burdens, and patients confronting illness, poverty, and isolation. The courage we learned in the AIDS years stays with us: to resist scapegoating, to honor every life, and to show up without fear or judgment.
On this World AIDS Day, we remember the ancestors of Sojourn — those whose lives and deaths shaped our ministry. We carry their memory with reverence, and we commit ourselves to offering the same fierce compassion in the present moment.
If you feel moved to support this work, I invite you to make a gift in honor of World AIDS Day:
We currently have a matching grant this week, and all gifts to Sojourn up to $3,000 will be tripled until we meet our goal!
Your generosity helps ensure that the legacy of compassion born in the AIDS wards continues — in every room where someone needs to know they are cherished, that they belong, and that they are held by love.
With Gratitude and Remembrance,
Chaplain John McLean Wolff, MDiv
Executive Director, Sojourn Chaplaincy
