Maurine Taylor Ford, 51, of Mount Holly, has been an HIV/AIDS activist for decades. On Sunday, she joined hundreds in the 37th Annual AIDS Walk Philly, which raised $200,000.
Maurine Taylor Ford waves as she passes the drummers of Batala Philly, who supplied a beat to encourage participants along Kelly Drive during the 37th annual AIDS Walk Sunday morning. Now 51 and from Mount Holly, Ford first devoted herself to AIDS activism as a teenager in New York City.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Maurine Taylor Ford, now 51, first devoted herself to AIDS activism as a teenager in New York City. At the time, many people were terrified of the so-called gay cancer, and her religious parents forbade her from volunteering at a local AIDS center. She didn’t care. She forged their signatures on a permission slip and went to work anyway at the AIDS center of Queens County.
“I’m one of those rebel-type of personalities, where whatever people are running away from, I’m running toward,” Ford said in an interview with The Inquirer. Over four decades, she has focused on the science and on combating the pervasive stigma around the disease. In college, her peers referred to her as “Molly the condom lady,” she said, because of her relentless emphasis on safer sex. (They also knocked on her door at all hours of the night to get condoms.) In the military, where she worked for 17 years, Ford continued to advocate and work for people with HIV/AIDS.
Advertisement
Cheer Philadelphia encourages participants along Kelly Drive Sunday morning. The group uses the "positivity of cheerleading to promote inclusion and champion equality for the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.” Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Walkers prepare to set off from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
AIDS Awareness Club students from the Council Rock High Schools at the start of the walk. Club members at the lower Bucks County schools also participate in New York theatre AIDS Awareness workshops, display the National AIDS Quilts, hold an annual music coffee house to raise funds for an AIDS hospice, and other fundraisers to support AIDS organizations.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Matt Ramirez of Woodbury, N.J. warms up before the fundraiser at the art museum steps, before heading off with friends along Kelly Drive.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Maria Reyes of North Philadelphia with her children Janiyah (left), 6, and Lil’yana, 2.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
An AIDS history timeline on display. The first event in Philadelphia was held in 1987, with volunteers from the gay and lesbian organizing a walk-a-thon to support area AIDS agencies and raise public awareness about the disease. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Participants leave messages on a sponsor’s chalkboard/selfie spot. Since the first walk 37 years ago, the region’s largest annual HIV/AIDS public awareness and fundraising event has raised over $18.5 million for the fight against HIV/AIDS.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Participants walk along Kelly Drive during the 37th annual AIDS Walk Sunday morning Oct. 15, 2023. AIDS Walk Philly raises money to provide emergency funds to some of the over 27,000 people living with HIV in and around Philadelphia through the From All Walks of Life Fund. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Maurine Taylor Ford waves as she passes the drummers of Batala Philly, supplying a beat to encourage participants along Kelly Drive. Batala is an all-percussion, community band that plays Samba Reggae music from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil as part of the larger Batala Mundo global arts project.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Taylor Ford and her husband Pierre Ford (left) walk with her uncle Thomas Knox (right) along Kelly Drive. Now 51 and from Mount Holly, Ford first devoted herself to AIDS activism as a teenager in New York City. In college the was known as “Molly the condom lady.” In the military, where she worked for 17 years, Ford continued to advocate and work for people with HIV/AIDS. Knox carries a photo of his friend, Marylyn Lovett who passed away in 2005 from HIV-related conditions.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ne’vaeh Scott, a senior at Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls participates with classmates from the school’s Black Student Union.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Paricipants stop at the Rocky statue for selfies following the 37th annual AIDS Walk Sunday morning Oct. 15, 2023. The fundraiser started and finished at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Regina Tucker (left) and Rosko Scott (right) coworkers at the Drexel Partnership finish the walk at the art museum steps. The Partnership Comprehensive Care Practice is one of the largest HIV care providers in the Philadelphia area.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ford’s first husband contracted HIV in the 1990s through an extramarital affair, she said. Despite the fear and stigma that still surrounded the virus, Ford became even more committed to her advocacy work while caring for her husband. He ultimately died of unrelated causes.
On Sunday, Ford, a Ph.D. student in public health/epidemiology who lives in Mount Holly, joined the 37th Annual AIDS Walk Philly. The event raised $200,000 for the Philly-based AIDS Fund, which will use it to grant emergency funds to individuals living with HIV, with a focus on safe housing, the organization said. In Greater Philadelphia, there are over 27,000 people living with HIV, according to the Office of HIV Planning Philadelphia, and the region has a new infection rate three times higher than the national average.
Clearly, despite years of work, there’s still more to do.
“I’ve just always kept the fight alive,” Ford said.
