Actress Judith Light honored by SF on World AIDS Day

SAN FRANCISCO, (KGO) -- Actress Judith Light was honored in San Francisco Monday during a special ceremony to mark World AIDS Day.

Light became involved in the epidemic during the 1980s. She later filmed a movie about Ryan White, a teenager who became infected with HIV and later died. She said getting involved was personal.

"My friends were dying and I considered them my family and they were being vilified," Light said. "And there was a level of divisiveness towards this community and a homophobic response that people weren't talking about."

The ceremony took place near the AIDS Memorial Grove at Golden Gate Park. People stopped by to look at the names of the victims inscribed at the memorial.

Nearly 20,000 people have died in San Francisco from the epidemic.