Long-Term AIDS Survivors
AIDs was the defining event in the lives of gay people of a certain age. From the scare of not knowing what was happening, through the deaths of the plague years, to newer treatments and services, I was curious about the lives of people who survived the plague, and now live with HIV as a normal way of life.
Gary Cooper and his partner Richard. Gary was diagnosed in 1985. His life has been organized around HIV and AIDs, both professionally and personally, having founded and organized HIV service agencies in several communities.
Brown Sugar found out he had HIV in prison in 1989. A long-term working girl, he's not sure who transmitted it to him, but has no regrets about the life he's lived.
Richard Bates never contracted the virus, but has spent his life supporting and counseling people with the disease. His ministry has been among the gay community for all these years.
Dale Thiel watched in horror as a friend died in the course of a week in the 1980's. As the losses mounted, he withdrew from society. His personal AIDs diagnosis turned his life around.