June marks Pride Month – a time of celebration, advocacy and much more. We teamed up with Vivent Health for this year’s Pride Guide, which showcases LGBTQ+ businesses, shares the local history of Pride celebrations, and highlights the great work Vivent is doing to promote holistic and inclusive healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. To learn more about Vivent, visit viventhealth.org.
A History of Healing
Vivent Health was founded in a time of crisis. It was 1985. The HIV and AIDS epidemic was worsening with each year, and its LGBTQ+ victims were systemically discriminated against. By 1994, AIDS would become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25-44. Vivent Health – then called the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin – was founded to fight that epidemic and the discrimination that went with it.
Today, more than 40 years later, the healthcare and social services organization has changed the landscape in Wisconsin and beyond. Vivent Health achieves 95% viral suppression for its HIV patients, compared with a national average of 68%. Those achievements were made in part because Vivent Health approached the epidemic differently.
“When I worked in HIV research years ago, we would examine why patients missed their appointments or didn’t take their medication. We kept seeing issues like transportation costs, housing, food insecurity, but these were often treated as just corollaries, not the main factors,” says Brandon Hill, President and CEO of Vivent Health. “When Vivent – ARCW at the time – developed its groundbreaking model, those issues were a crucial part of the equation.”
Vivent Health built a model that directly supports its patients, whatever their socioeconomic needs. With case management, in-house food pantries, housing programs, legal services and more, it became a place where HIV care was a crucial piece of a larger puzzle – and it worked.
The model spread statewide. Wisconsin peaked at 587 new HIV cases in 1990. That dropped more than 60% to 208 new diagnoses in 2020. ARCW expanded outside of Wisconsin, rebranding as Vivent Health in 2019. Today, it’s bringing that spirit of innovation to PrEP care, a treatment that prevents HIV infection. “We sit so close to the finish line for ending the epidemic that now is not the time to lose momentum,” Hill says. “If anything, now is the time to double down.”
After Jason Rae graduated from Marquette University about 15 years ago, he noticed something – many of his LGBTQ+ classmates were leaving Milwaukee.
“They would say, ‘Well, I can’t be an out professional here in Milwaukee. It’s not an inclusive spot,’” Rae remembers now.
He wanted to change that. He started by developing small networking events for community members and allies, and as the events grew, he saw the chance to do more. In 2012, he founded the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Today, the chamber advocates for businesses, promotes inclusivity, and helps broaden access to resources.
Rae is just one example of the countless LGBTQ+ people in Milwaukee and Wisconsin who have worked to make Milwaukee a more inclusive place – one where members of the community feel not only included, but celebrated. Pride has been a crucial factor in that.
As a national movement, Pride generally traces its roots to the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, a moment of civil unrest that brought discrimination against LGBTQ+ people to center stage and inspired the first gay pride parade in New York one year later.
Milwaukee’s first Pride event came a year after that in January, 1971 – a march up Wisconsin Avenue and a rally at the War Memorial Center. The movement started small, with a dedicated group of activists spreading its message of inclusivity. The city hosted its first Pride festival in 1988 and its first Pride parade in 1989. The celebrations reached a milestone in 1996, when they found a permanent home at Henry Maier Festival Park. Since 1999, June has been designated a national Pride month, and today, Pride celebrations are found across Milwaukee.
“Pride is about living my authentic life,” says Brandon Hill, the President and CEO of Vivent Health, a national leader in HIV care. “As a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and leading an organization that serves a patient population that’s LGBTQ+, Pride is very much a part of advocacy for me. It’s also a source of personal identity to participate in Pride.”
While Pride is a source of joy and celebration every year, it is also a chance for the LGBTQ+ community and allies to reflect on how far things have come – and to renew efforts to continue advocating for inclusion.
“Pride is a great month, but the question is, ‘How do you show up year-round?’” Rae says. “I always say June is one month, but Pride is 365 days a year.”
Food and Drink
Chandler House Bakery
411 E. Main St., Watertown
920-390-2076
Flour Girl & Flame
8121 W. National Ave., West Allis
414-662-7921
Melt Chocolates
2018 S. First St., Suite 120
414-939-6358
Midwest Sad
601 S. Sixth St.
414-335-8162
Odd Duck
939 S. Second St.
414-763-5881
Outpost Foods
Four area locations: Wauwatosa, Mequon, Capitol Drive, Kinnickinnic Avenue
Press. Waffles
207 E. Buffalo St., Suite 212
262-498-1891
Shopping and Services
Bandit MKE
1224 E. Brady St.
414-459-1254
Belle Fiori
2014 N. Farwell Ave.
414-272-2234
Confluence Graphics
265 E. Hampton Ave.
414-962-7000
Cream City Foundation
2153 N. Martin Luther King Dr.
414-225-0244
Clarified Bodywork
12065 W. Janesville Rd., Suite 104, Hales Corners
Holton Street Clinic
3251 N. Holton St.
414-264-8800
Marriage and Family Focus
307 S. Paterson St., Suite 120, Madison
608-501-1629
North Shore Chamber of Commerce
414-228-1720
Summit Counseling
2717 N. Grandview Blvd., Waukesha
262-793-0990
The Sanchez Schuster Post Group
262-523-5647
Vivent Health
1311 N. Sixth St.
414-273-1991
Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
5027 W. North Ave.
414-678-9275
Arts and Entertainment
Cactus Club
2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
414-897-0663
Ex Fabula
206 E. Smith St.
808-443-6246
Her Lounge MKE
790 N. Milwaukee St., Suite 302
herloungemke.com
Marcus Performing Arts Center
929 N. Water St.
414-273-7207
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
158 N. Broadway
414-276-8842
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
212 W. Wisconsin Ave.
414-291-7605
Potawatomi Casino Hotel
1721 W. Canal St.
Renaissance Theaterworks
158 N. Broadway
414-273-0800
Skylight Music Theatre
158 N. Broadway
414-291-7811
The 2026 Pride Month Guide is Presented by Vivent Health.
