A community health initiative led by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) was abruptly shut down on June 20 in Wilton Manors. In a Facebook post that’s gaining traction, drag performer and activist Nicole Halliwell wrote,
“I got in full drag tonight to film content with AHF about National HIV Testing Day – outside Hunters. We parked the mobile testing van in the farthest space on the lot, away from everyone and everything. The new lot management (not Hunters) came up to us and said the new parking lot/plaza owner says we have to leave. Why? We’re going to pay for the space. “It doesn’t matter, you need to leave.”
Halliwell added,
“This truly seems motivated by some type of prejudice… Every day I feel more and more that Wilton Manors is becoming gentrified by greedy straight people who want us out.”
The AHF testing bus has served the area for years, offering free health services to the LGBTQ community. Many online are calling this eviction a blow to vital queer health services and a sign of growing tensions in what has long been a safe space for South Florida’s LGBTQ population.
With no official comment yet from the plaza owner, questions remain. But for many, this incident highlights a growing fear: that gentrification may be pushing queer life — and life-saving services — out of Wilton Manors.
