For writer and activist Sean Strub, the early days of AIDS activism were about "getting people together and building communities." Though those years were stressful and difficult, activists "showed the best face of what the broader community was about."
Strub, who founded both the Sero Project and Poz Magazine, visited Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., March 12 to read from and discuss his memoir, "Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival."
He wrote the book because he was concerned that the history of AIDS activism in the 1980's and 1990's was being forgotten. Strub also said that while activists can rightly point to failed responses from institutions such as the government, media and healthcare industry, "We haven't looked as critically at our own community's responses."
The people involved with AIDS activism from that era represented disparate backgrounds and interests. In June 1983, many advocates who had gathered for a health conference in Denver compiled a manifesto, the Denver Principles.
"The existing delivery structure didn't serve queer people at all, let alone people with AIDS. It was the first time in the history of humanity when people with a disease gathered to have a voice in their case," Strub noted, adding that such a strategy was also revolutionary for patients with other diseases. "The principles were not original—they were codifications of what were in women's movement."
Women's roles in AIDS activism are often overlooked, Strub said. Numerous women, many of them lesbians, acted as caregivers for persons with AIDS. Also, female activists very often schooled their white male compatriots, who until the epidemic had rarely had a time when the system had failed them, in confronting institutions against who they had no voice .
"It was women who were teaching about racism and sexism and supercharging the activism. … One of ACT UP's first actions was shutting down the New York Stock Exchange. I can tell you that if ACT UP had been started by people of color and women, the New York Stock Exchange probably would not have been their first focus," he added.
One of ACT UP New York's most famous actions, which it undertook alongside Women's Health Action Coalition ( WHAM! ), was their disruption of a mass being given at St. Patrick's Cathedral in December 1989. Strub took part in that demonstration, which resulted in 111 arrests.
The respect for the action has increased over the years, he said, adding that the Church at the time was trying to interfere in New York State's sex education rules as well as discouraging condom use. "[The demonstration] helped in a period of peak Catholic influence in American politics and society," said Strub, who was raised in a Catholic family.
The influence of AIDS activist groups began to dwindle in the mid-1990s, moving to what Strub called a "benefactor-victim" paradigm of advocacy. But numerous issues still face persons with HIV, among them draconian notification laws that can find individuals persecuted and incarcerated for not telling sexual partners when they are HIV-positive. About two-thirds of the states, including Illinois, have such laws.
Strub said the laws create "a new viral underclass" but admitted they had support from many in the gay community—a recent survey said that 79% of young gay men favor such laws.
"Every person with HIV in the U.S. is one disgruntled partner away from a courtroom," said Strub, noting the irony that such laws privilege not knowing your status—the only way to be innocent of not disclosing being positive is not knowing it at all. "They are horrific public health policy … There is zero evidence that they work. It's become, 'Take the test and risk arrest.'"
Strub was asked where the gay community would be had the AIDS epidemic not happened. He answered that he was not sure, but looked at how AIDS activism paved the way for other victories in the community.
Prior to the 1980's, coming out was largely the province of either wealthy men whose money and privilege could shield them from many indignities visited upon disenfranchised communities, or, conversely, members of those disenfranchised communities, who had little to lose.
"We created a movement that has enabled a vastly greater range of people to come out of the closet," Strub said. "That ended up dragging the movement towards middle class values like marriage and military service and quite frankly away from the epidemic."
Strub called current seroconversion rates among gay men, especially younger gay men, "astonishing and terrifying." He said that, if the rates continue unabated over the next several years, half of all gay men who are now of college-age will be HIV-positive by the time they reach age 50. For young gay Black men of college age, the numbers are even worse: Half of them will be HIV-positive by age 35 at today's rates.
He also discussed how some members of the gay community are contributing to the stigmatization of HIV. In the 1980's and 1990's, that stigmatization came from the community at large, and stemmed both from a fear of casual contact spreading disease, and an outright fear of homosexuality. "Now the stigma is much more about an individual judgment of that person," said Strub. "It's not external; it's [coming from] other gay men."
He pointed to online articles and discussions about HIV transmission as proof. "Go down and read the comments that follow. They are more hateful and painful than anything we ever experienced before. It used to be that if you became positive, you were wrapped in support from the community. Today, its kind of like you're kicked out."
He added that the solution to raising awareness and understanding about health issues is moving away from a focus on preventing just one disease and promoting an idea of overall healthiness in the LGBT community. "The only way to do that is to empower the stigmatized individual."
Videos by Windy City Times
Sean Strub at Center on Halsted 3-12-2014, 1 of 2 at the link: www.youtube.com/watch .
Windy City Times: Sean Strub at Center on Halsted 3-12-2014 2 of 2 at the link: www.youtube.com/watch .
