Back to black on World AIDS Day

Birthday-girl Kinsman bows to public outcry over changing ribbon color; officials make the switch in time for memorial observances Thursday.Thursday’s World AIDS Day observances in Laguna were marked with red and black ribbons around town.

After a barrage of criticism, City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman backed off from a request to have red ribbons instead of the traditional black on city artworks because Dec. 1 happens to be her birthday.

The day is also called a Day Without Art, and many museums and galleries drape artwork in black to indicate the loss of artists’ lives to AIDS.

Local AIDS organizations used red ribbons on trees to commemorate those who have lost their lives to AIDS. The city has the highest per capita incidence of AIDS in the country.

The council voted Nov. 15 to use red instead of black ribbons on that day for city art pieces, at Kinsman’s request.

Kinsman said she had requested the change in the belief that red would send a more hopeful message than black. Red was suggested by an Arts Commission representative and approved by the council.

However, a firestorm of criticism erupted almost immediately from the gay community and Kinsman bowed to their wishes.

The decision to use black ribbons was made administratively, Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said.

Since there was no council meeting scheduled to reverse the decision, Kinsman called Assistant City Manager John Pietig and asked him to make an administrative decision to change the color back to black, which he did on Wednesday.

According to Pietig, Councilwoman Jane Egly also called with the same request after receiving community input that black was the preferred color.

“Given that the council member who originally requested the change was in favor of black ribbons, along with one other council member, and that a substantial amount of public input was received indicating a preference for black, I made an administration decision to direct the staff to put up black ribbons,” Pietig said.

Pietig alerted other council members of the action, according to Pearson-Schneider.

Only black ribbons were to be displayed on public property Thursday.

City Arts Director Sian Poeschl said a total of 10 black ribbons were displayed on city-owned art pieces, including “Discussion” on the corner of Ocean and Forest, and “Sight and Sound” in Brown’s Park.

“Each ribbon had the words ‘keep the promise’ written on it,” Poeschl said.

Kinsman and Councilwoman Egly were to patrol the streets to make sure only black ribbons were displayed on public art projects.