The women who gathered at Beulah Grove Community Center shifted between flinching and laughter as Deanna Brown Thomas invited them to share their concerns and questions about HIV and AIDS. "It's a life or death thing," Mrs. Brown Thomas said Tuesday. "It has no respect to race, age, gender or political party. You have to protect yourself and be informed about it."

East Central Health District, The Top Ladies of Distinction Inc. and Beulah Grove sponsored Girl 2 Girl: Women Like Us, an event celebrating National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. HIV is the leading cause of death for black women in the United States between the ages of 25 and 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 126,000 U.S. women are living with AIDS or HIV.That's why Sandra Wimberly, the health educator for the health department, said she wants as many women as possible to be informed about the disease.

"Women of all ages and young girls are increasingly becoming infected with AIDS," Mrs. Wimberly said. "We want them to think of this as a girls night out. They can speak their mind."Mrs. Brown Thomas, a radio personality and James Brown's daughter, spoke with about 40 women and girls on self-esteem, oral sex, abstinence, talking to parents and boyfriends about sex and sexually transmitted diseases.

Lakeside High School junior Alegra Alston said she got more out of the discussion than she expected. After hearing what Mrs. Brown Thomas and others had to say, she said she is sure she will not have sex with her boyfriend."I really feel that I learned you shouldn't be so vulnerable to what your boyfriend says to you," Alegra said.