Exclive terview wh the founr of Gay Men's Health Crisis

Contents:

• REFLECTG ON THE AIDS EPIMIC THIS GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS FOUNRS’ DAY
• EARLY DAYS OF AIDS: ‘MAKG GAY HISTORY’ FEATUR GMHC
• IT'S BEEN 35 YEARS SCE GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS BEGAN LARRY KRAMER'S LIVG ROOM
• EXCLIVE TERVIEW WH THE FOUNR OF GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS
• GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC) GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC)

REFLECTG ON THE AIDS EPIMIC THIS GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS FOUNRS’ DAY

On June 5, 1981, the Uned Stat Centers for Disease Control and Preventn (CDC) issued s first warng about a relatively rare form of pnmonia among a small group of young gay men Los Angel, which was later termed to be AIDS-related.

Eighty men gather wrer Larry Kramer’s apartment to addrs the “gay ncer” and to raise money for rearch. This rmal meetg provis the foundatn of what will soon bee Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). GMHC lnc the “Beyond 200 Sexual Health Survey” New York Cy, the largt survey of gay and bisexual men sce the begng of the study published Newsday reports an timated 69, 000 people New York State have HIV but rema unaware of .

EARLY DAYS OF AIDS: ‘MAKG GAY HISTORY’ FEATUR GMHC

Our HistoryIn 1981, eighty men gathered wrer Larry Kramer’s apartment to addrs the “gay ncer” and to raise money for rearch. This rmal meetg provid the foundatn of what would soon bee Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). I was a petrified, 26-year-old, closeted, old, gay man when began, livg an abandoned brownstone Harlem wh no heat or hot water that I had purchased to renovate.

IT'S BEEN 35 YEARS SCE GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS BEGAN LARRY KRAMER'S LIVG ROOM

Simultaneoly, a livg room lower Manhattan, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first anizatn ever created to bat AIDS, was beg formed. The effort to create GMHC was led by Larry Kramer, who I was lucky to meet shortly after I moved to New York providg me wh the nam of gay doctors faiar wh AIDS so I uld seek treatment myself, to offerg unsel when my boyiend Stt me down wh Kaposi’s sara, Larry and GMHC were there for me. It was a bean of hope for so many people livg wh AIDS, livg wh partners and close iends wh the illns, of gay or bisexual men who were aaid and facg discrimatn and stigma ― beg fired om their jobs, evicted om their apartments, or nied accs to servic like health surance or ernment support.

EXCLIVE TERVIEW WH THE FOUNR OF GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS

When the AIDS epimic started 1981, journalist and LGBTQ civil rights tor Eric Marc was a young gay man, tryg like so many others to navigate the post-Stonewall era of beg out and gay New York Cy. ”For the current season of his popular “Makg Gay History” podst, “Comg of Age Durg the AIDS Crisis, ” Marc his own experience to chronicle the early days of the epimic his native New York figur heavily the early episos.

That was soon after Larry Kramer and five other gay men found Gay Men’s Health Crisis 1982 to raise money for AIDS rearch and take re of the sick and dyg.

GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC) GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS (GMHC)

Ordarily, Marc, the podst host, draws on a rare archive of 100 terviews wh LGBTQ people, both notable and obscure, that he rerd 30 years ago for his groundbreakg 1992 book, reissued 2002 as Makg Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lbian and Gay Equal typilly featur someone he’s terviewed for each episo, om inic trans activist Sylvia Rivera to straight ally advice lumnist Dear Abby.

Although Marc wasn’t an activist, AIDS touched his own life and that of everyone he knew New York the early his d memoir’s six episos, Marc crafts a richly tailed history of the first of the AIDS epimic, at s epicenter New York Cy, om his own, very personal vantage pot, by weavg his own prent-day rellectns wh those of iends, fay, and the people he met along the season’s first episo begs on July 3, 1981, when Marc, who’s jt graduated om llege, spots an obscure headle The New York Tim: “Rare Cancer Seen 41 Homosexuals.