Sheryl Lee Ralph on the ‘Uptick’ in Women of Color Contracting HIV: ‘It Is Something That Needs to Be Paid Attention to’

For more than 40 years, Sheryl Lee Ralph has been on the frontlines helping raise funds and awareness in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

She continued that work Sunday night as a guest at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party.

“I’m here because, believe it or not, HIV and AIDS is not a dead issue in America right now,” Ralph, a producer on Zeberiah Newman’s “Unexpected” documentary anthology about Black women living with HIV, told Variety on the red carpet. “It is spreading. We are still seeing upticks across the south, especially in women of color,…