In December 1989 Sean Strub sat nervously in a pew near the front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. He quietly listened to the chants of 4,500 angry people outside as they yelled and waved signs that read: “Condoms, not Coffins” and “Papal Bull.” The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was protesting Cardinal O’Conner’s assault on safe sex, the gay lifestyle, and reproductive rights.1 Sean was not in the cathedral to worship. Instead, at the designated moment he walked up to accept communion and conduct his act of protest while other ACT UP members rose up on pews and shouted: “O’Conner, you’re killing us!” The New York police arrested 111 protesters that day.2 Sean managed to avoid arrest. Looking back, he remembered that he was “in a state that feels like grace, certain that if I am to die of AIDS, I will die as a fighter, not a victim.”3
Years before, in 1976, Sean first arrived in Washington D.C., a closeted seventeen-year-old from Iowa determined to make his mark on the world. His earlier involvement in Iowa politics connected him to a job running the U.S. Senate elevator in the hallowed halls of the U.S. legislature. Within a year, he was promoted to senate page and invited to attend the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City. The experience changed his life. He was drawn to the electricity and openness of New York City. Gay men casually held hands on public streets, something he had never seen before. He vowed to move to the city as soon as possible. That chance came in 1978 when he knew someone that needed a roommate in Greenwich Village. Without hesitation, Sean packed and left for New York City.4
Shortly after his arrival, Sean unwittingly came across a local protest held in honor of recently slain Harvey Milk near the Stonewall Inn. He recalled this as his “first exposure to a group of angry gay people.” Stating that “[t]he people demanding justice were brave enough to put their bodies on the line. I was not.” Though Sean did not immediately participate in the politics of the gay rights movement, he did immerse himself in the gay sexual liberation movement. The gay men participating in the sexual revolution cruised in leather bars, back rooms of clubs and bathhouses. The bathhouses were far and away the most popular places to hook up. In bathhouses, men would walk around with only a towel around their waists while cruising through multiple partners on any given night.5 Even as their sexual revolution was in full swing, the gay community knew very little about sexual health. Only a decade prior, homosexuality was declassified as a mental disorder, which led to the explosion in the community’s numbers. Yet, at the same time, many doctors still clung to the idea that it required professional intervention to cure, and were not willing or able to advise gay men about sexual health. This combination created the perfect environment for a sexually transmitted disease to spread rapidly.6 And, in fact, that is exactly what happened just as young Sean was following his dreams into New York City.
Just three years after Sean made it to New York, on June 5, 1981, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report stating: “In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at three different Los Angeles hospitals. Two of the patients died.” Unbeknownst to everyone, this was the first hint of HIV/AIDS, a disease that would ravage the gay community.7![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/report.jpg)
Dr. Michael Gottlieb, an assistant professor specializing in immunology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) was the lead author of the CDC report. In early 1981, Dr. Gottlieb was asking around for interesting “teaching cases” when he came across a young gay man with “unexplained fevers, dramatic weight loss, a severely damaged immune system and a mouth full of thrush, or Candidiasis.” This type of thrush was usually only seen in patients with a defect in one particular component of the immune system, the T-lymphocytes (“T-Cells”). The patient, without a definite diagnosis, was released. A few weeks later he returned and was diagnosed with Pneumocystis carinii, a rare but well-known cause of pneumonia also found in people with immune deficiency. In the following weeks, Dr. Gottlieb learned of two other homosexual patients suffering from all the same symptoms. They both also had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and cytomegalovirus (CMV).8 Cytomegalovirus is a common herpes-related virus that causes cold sores. Cytomegalovirus also results in rapid organ failure and blindness. Additionally, these last two patients were diagnosed with Kaposi sarcoma, a blood disease that causes purple, red, or brown tumors to appear on the skin. As with the other diagnoses, a damaged immune system led to Kaposi sarcoma.9
Dr. Gotleib shared his findings with the head of the CDC’s Epidemic Control Office in Los Angeles. He informed the CDC that he thought there was a new disease infecting gay men. The head of the local CDC office quickly responded by handing Gottlieb a report that had come across his desk about another patient in Santa Monica with the same symptoms. Soon after, Dr. Gotleib submitted a brief article to the CDC’s MMWR. His purpose was twofold: to alert public health officials, and also stake his claim as the man who discovered the new disease.10
Across the country, Dr. Alvin Friedman-Kien, a well-established dermatologist and virologist at NYU Medical Center, was examining a gay man who suffered from swollen lymph nodes, fever, weight loss, and an enlarged spleen. The man complained to Dr. Friedman-Kien that nobody would look at the rash on his feet. Upon examination, Dr. Friedman-Kien noticed faint purplish brown bruises on his feet, which a biopsy shockingly revealed to be Kaposi sarcoma. In quick succession, he saw three more patients with similar symptoms, all of whom tested positive for Kaposi sarcoma. A dermatologist could easily go their entire career without seeing one case of Kaposi sarcoma, and he had several cases in quick succession. Alarmed, he immediately called the CDC to report the situation and learned that there were twenty other cases in NYC alone. Dr. Friedman-Kien’s next call was to a colleague, Marcus Conant, a dermatologist in San Francisco who alerted him to six more cases. In a matter of weeks, he published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report about the twenty-six gay men with Kaposi Sarcoma.11
This report did what Dr. Gotleib’s failed to do, it garnered the attention of the media. The New York Times, the Washington Press, and many smaller papers that circulated in gay communities published stories about the strange new disease affecting gay men. 12 By October 1981, the Center for Disease Control declared the new disease to be an epidemic. A year after Dr. Friedman-Kien’s report was published the disease was named the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection. When a person contracts HIV it attacks their infection-fighting CD4 cells, which make it difficult for the body to fight infections. This gradually destroys the immune system and without treatment, advances to AIDS.13
A few years prior to the disease breaking nationally, in early 1979, Sean was experiencing painful discharge. He went to one of the only gay clinics he knew of in the city. After being bombarded with questions, Sean was diagnosed with Hepatitis B, given a prescription, and sent on his way with instructions not to engage in sexual activity for ten days. Still, Sean continued to visit the bathhouses and became more entrenched in the sexual awakening occurring throughout the gay community. He was comforted by the secret nature of the bathhouses, and his ability to explore a side of himself he still publicly denied. Raised as a Catholic, Sean struggled with the internal shame of being gay.14In late 1979, Sean finally stopped distancing himself from the gay political activism he so frequently dismissed. As he was moving into a new apartment, he came across his first gay pride march, the first step towards viewing other gay people as an “us” rather than an alienating “them.” He became more involved in gay activism and began attending protests.15 His political activism and social life became intertwined and he started frequenting gay bars along Fifth Avenue where the gay political elite hung out. His involvement in activism was something he felt passionate about, though it did not help lessen his own shame regarding his sexuality. When the Democratic National Convention came back to New York City in 1980, Sean recalled how the last time he attended the DNC in 1976 he was too closeted to even visit a gay bar.16 He was evolving. Sean even worked to persuade members of the house to co-sponsor the Equality Act of 1974, at a time when most politicians felt that supporting gay rights was a political death sentence. 17
![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/David-Kirby-Deathbed-photo-300x179.png)
That same year, Sean found himself admitted to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with swollen lymph nodes, in addition to hepatitis B. Due to constant exhaustion, he also spent more time in bed than out of it. The doctors were unable to pinpoint a diagnosis but assumed it to be a kind of lymphoma related to his previous Hepatitis diagnosis. His health improved, and he was discharged.18 A few years after his initial health scare, on May 18, 1981 (prior to the June 1981 CDC report), Sean was intrigued by an article in a gay biweekly paper, New York Native, regarding the death of a “handful of gay men from a rare form of pneumonia.” Later the Native ran a second, longer piece on the mysterious new illness, this time including a list of symptoms. Sean read through each symptom. The first was weight loss, he knew he had lost weight, but chalked it up to his fast-paced lifestyle. The second, night sweats, made him a little uneasy, but the third, swollen lymph glands, especially troubled him. Yet, none of the doctors he had seen to that point thought he had “gay cancer” as it was called at the time.19
From that point on, the Native reported with great frequency on the new disease and the sexual histories of those afflicted with it. At the same time, the obituary page became and remained one of the largest sections in the biweekly paper. Still, Sean continued to dismiss his uneasiness, decided to trust his doctors, and figured there was no way he could have the newly named AIDS. In 1982, the news that the disease was transmitted sexually came out. And, just a year later, Joe McDonald, New York’s first gay model died of AIDS. This hit close to home for Sean. Sean had regular sex with his roommate Tito, who also had sex with Joe McDonald. For the first time, there was a clear link between him and the disease. By 1984, he began to worry over every cough, cold, mosquito bite, or bruise. He was especially fearful of PCP and Kaposi’s sarcoma, the two leading killers of people with AIDS.20
As reflected in the growing obituary section, Sean also began to lose people around him. The first person to pass was his close friend Jim. Later recounting his last visit with Jim, Sean recalled that Jim was making up the couch for him to sleep on: “I was hurt because we had always slept in the same bed and I asked why we couldn’t sleep together.” Jim’s reply was “I assumed you wouldn’t want to because of this” gesturing towards his gaunt KS-covered face. “I told him that I would not get it by sleeping in the same bed and so we snuggled under the covers like we used to, that is when I felt tears on his cheek.” “I was afraid I was hurting him, but it was because nobody would touch him anymore, nobody would even shake his hand. He missed feeling the touch of someone.” Months later Jim died.21 He was one of many people Sean lost during the epidemic.
In early 1985, Sean started a political survey research firm called Strub/Collins. Within the first two years, AIDS efforts became a large part of the business. He also volunteered for the GMHC to create fundraising mailers and to solicit donations. GMHC was impressed by his work and hired his firm to print and mail fundraising letters that used people afflicted with AIDS to appeal to the emotional side of potential donors. Finding a printer was tough. More than once Sean heard the response “we don’t print pornography.” When they hired a shop on Long Island to fold, insert, seal, and mail the letters, the owner called to report “our workers won’t touch the letters because they are afraid of getting AIDS.”22
That summer Sean met Micheal Misove at a local gay bar called Uncle Charlie’s Downtown. The pair headed to an all-night diner where they talked for hours, with the conversation eventually turning to AIDS. Michael declared he had no interest in ever taking the HIV test. Sean could tell Michael had swollen lymph glands just as he did. In the following months, their relationship became more serious, as did their collective rage at the rising death toll. This rage was felt by so many in the gay community and fueled the rise of LGBT and AIDS activism.23
The Saturday after Labor Day in 1985, he recalls awakening in terrible pain “with painful sores along the entire right side of my torso.” He was rushed to a doctor, who informed Sean he had shingles caused by a suppressed immune system. The doctor recommended a test to see if he had AIDS. Years after he first recognized himself in the list of symptoms, Sean finally agreed to take the test. Two weeks later the doctor informed him that he tested positive for HIV and was experiencing AIDS-related conditions. Sean tried asking questions, but he couldn’t make his voice work. The doctor tearfully told him, “Sean, these days you can have at least two good years left.” Sean told his partner, Michael, who admitted he too likely had HIV, but still did not want the test. Michael vowed to be there for Sean and kept that vow for the rest of his own life.24
![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/bloody-hand.jpg)
San Francisco and New York were the first urban centers in which AIDs sprouted. San Francisco took action, but other large cities such as Houston, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles failed to make even the smallest effort to combat the spread of the disease.29 This lack of government action forced the nonprofit community-based programs to step up. In 1982, two gay men from L.A., Michael Callen and Richard Berkowitz, took matters into their own hands and wrote How to Have Sex in an Epidemic, which pushed an idea that even the medical community had not endorsed. The notion that condoms could be used during homosexual encounters to help stop the spread of AIDS.30
Many laws were rushed through that contributed to the stigma of the gay community. In particular, on June 30, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick upholding the sodomy laws in the state of Georgia. The case arose when Michael Hardwick was observed engaging in consensual sodomy in his bedroom when an officer kicked in his door. He was charged under a Georgia statute that criminalized sodomy.31 In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Burger called homosexual sex an “infamous crime against nature” and “worse than rape.” Around that time, Proposition 64 in California proposed to quarantine people with AIDS. Luckily it was defeated by the burgeoning activist community.32
![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/azt.jpg)
Amid the misinformation and hate, the truly horrific problem was the inaction of the government in finding ways to combat the disease or in clearing the path for doctors engaged in finding cures or medications. One of the deadliest issues faced by the AIDS community was the lack of available drugs. AZT (Zidovudine), the first anti-HIV drug, was released by the FDA in 1987, six years after the start of the epidemic and thousands of deaths later.33 This drug was rushed out to the AIDS community and welcomed by many with open arms. It would later prove to do more harm than good. It did help people who were in the final stages of the disease with only a few months to live, but taken any longer than that, the AIDS virus developed resistance. This caused it to mutate to get past the AZT barrier, which would overwhelm the already immune-defenseless body and kill the patient.34 Doctors pushed the FDA to begin testing on already approved drugs that were showing success rates in HIV patients. One such drug was Bactrin, which was working to prevent PCP in immune-compromised patients. The FDA refused to start the testing, and instead approved Pentamidine, which ended up being less effective than Bactrin. Between the FDA’s denial and their eventual acceptance of Bactrin, there were 30,534 deaths from AIDS in the U.S.35 The persistent lack of action cost thousands of people their lives.
In late 1985, Sean joined the People with AIDS coalition and soon realized that although he had followed the unfolding of the disease, he had also been asleep to the reality of it. He was determined to contribute. As part of the coalition, Sean began distributing copies of How to Have Sex in an Epidemic. He read medical journals and heard rumors about a compound know as AZT that was showing results in experimental trials. Sean only took AZT for a matter of days before quitting the drug. He would eventually take testosterone replacement when his T-cells plummeted, anti-retroviral drugs and treatments to prevent opportunistic infections, Bactrim to prevent PCP, Biaxin, and sometimes anti-anxiety or sleeping pills to manage the disease.36His activism elevated and following the decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, he marched with thousands of people all the way to Sixth Avenue where they sat in the street to block traffic. Sean explained, “The [Bowers] decision was like putting a match to dry kindling; we were not as angry as we were scared.” During this time, friends were a precious commodity as so many of those close to him were lost to the disease. He began wandering the hospital hallways at Roosevelt, St. Vincent’s, NYU Medical Center, and other hospitals, visiting with ill friends. Sometimes all you had to do was walk down the hallway scanning the patient names on the doors and would inevitably see someone you knew. His rage about the treatment of the gay community led Sean to ACT UP. Every Monday, Sean attended the ACT UP meetings being held in the rundown redbrick building on West Thirteenth Street.37
![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ACT-UP-WEBSITE.png)
They also had the tag “Drugs into Bodies” because of the FDA’s unwillingness to approve more drugs for those living with HIV/AIDS. This protest was not done blindly. ACT UP organizers had already shown a demonstrated knowledge of the FDA drug approval process. They carefully prepared press kits and presented them to the media beforehand. They demanded the drug approval process be shortened, the end to double-blind placebo trails because they considered giving a placebo to someone with a life-threatening illness unethical, and the inclusion of all groups in HIV trials, including women of color, children, the poor, IV Drug users, hemophiliacs, and gay men. In addition, they demanded that Medicaid must be made to pay for experimental drug therapies.40
![](https://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Sean-and-michael.png)
In the months after, Sean tried to cope with Michael’s death by throwing himself into activism. He organized one of ACT UP’s most controversial demonstrations against Cardinal O’Connor. O’Connor campaigned against condom usage and demanded that church-run hospitals stop discussing safe sex and distributing condoms. He tried to discredit studies and proclaimed, “condoms don’t work.” On December 10, 1989, protesters packed the streets in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral while Sean and other protesters posed as the faithful inside. Throughout the mass, members of ACT UP would cause various disruptions. Sean’s protest was when he and another member Tom walked up to take communion. Tom said “opposing safe-sex education is murder” while crumbling his communion cracker. Sean said, “May the Lord bless the Man I love, who died a year ago this week” and crumbled his communion cracker as well. Sean was determined to die a fighter, not a victim.42
Since the start of the epidemic, the media coverage of people with AIDs mainly portrayed them as suffering and dying victims with no hope for survival. Sean knew that was not the case. He knew AIDS people who fell in love, pursued careers, opened businesses, raised children, and traveled. In 1994, he used all the money he could scrape together to launch Poz magazine, a glossy lifestyle magazine for people with AIDS. The title was both a play on the horrible news of being HIV positive while also an encouragement to think and act positively. The magazine translated complicated science and factors that affected treatment decision-making for the average consumer. In April 1994, when the first groundbreaking issue of Poz hit the stands, the FDA was still approving HIV medications.43
Later that year he was diagnosed with KS, the scarlet mark of AIDS. As he worked to grow the magazine, his lesions grew as well. They were covering his body and his health was deteriorating. He suffered from breathing problems, incontinence, night sweats soaked the bed. He also had patches of KS growing inside of his lungs.44 Luckily, Sean was able to get into a clinical trial for a chemotherapeutic agent. This stabilized his KS and saved his life. Today, Sean continues his activism through POZ Magazine and speaking at AIDS-related events.45
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 1-5. ↵
- Jason Deparle, “111 Held in St. Patrick’s AIDS Protest,” The New York Times, December 11,1989, 3. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 6. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 23-34. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 70-71. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 80. ↵
- Michel Gottlieb MD et al., “Pneumocystis Pneumonia – Los Angeles,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 30, no. 21 (June 5, 1981). ↵
- Elizabeth Fee and Theodore Brown, “Micheal S. Gottlieb and the Identification of AIDS,” American Journal of Public Health 96, no. 6 (2006): 9, 10.2105/AJPH.2006.088435. ↵
- Aidinfo.nih.gov, “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic infections in HIV-Infected adults and adolescent,” last modified October 25, 2018, https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/guidelines/html/4/adult-and-adolescent-opportunistic-infection/337/cmv. ↵
- Aidinfo.nih.gov, “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic infections in HIV-Infected adults and adolescent,” last modified October 25, 2018, https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/guidelines/html/4/adult-and-adolescent-opportunistic-infection/337/cmv. ↵
- Ronald Bayer, AIDS Doctors: voices from the epidemic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), chapter 1. ↵
- Elizabeth Fee and Theodore Brown, “Micheal S. Gottlieb and the Identification of AIDS,” American Journal of Public Health 96, no. 6 (2006): 9, 10.2105/AJPH.2006.088435. ↵
- Aidsinfo.nih.gov, “HIV/AIDS: The Basics,” last modified October 25, 2018, https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids/fact-sheets/19/45/hiv-aids–the-basics. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 70-72. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 74. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 85. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 100. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 87. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 113-115. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 131. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 153-154. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 155-160. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 161. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 170-171. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 250. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 159. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 250. ↵
- Natasha Geiling, “The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic,” Smithsonian Magazine, December 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/. ↵
- Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic, 1998, s.v. “State and Local Government, U.S,” by Raymond A. Smith. ↵
- Natasha Geiling, “The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic,” Smithsonian Magazine, December 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/. ↵
- Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Bowers V. Hardwick: Law Case,” by Melvin I. Urofsky. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 187-190. ↵
- Tim Murphy, “Where are They Now?: ACT UP AIDS Activists 25 Years Later,” New York Magazine, June 2013, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/06/act-up-aids-activists-25-years-later/slideshow/ ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 253. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 178-182. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 170-180. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 190. ↵
- Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017, s.v. “ACT UP International Organization,” by Meliza Banales. ↵
- Jim Eigo and Mark Harrington et al., FDA Action Handbook (1988). ↵
- Jim Eigo and Mark Harrington et al., FDA Action Handbook (1988). ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 220-223. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 229. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 275-279. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 239-242. ↵
- Sean Strub, Body Counts: A Memoir of Activism, Sex, and Survival (New York: Scribner, 2014), 398-415. ↵
100 comments
Madelynn Salinas
I learned so much from this article, that I had not yet known about AIDS. For me it really called attention to how much the government was not helping sets the path for other professions to follow. I think the government should be held to a higher standard and be responsible for the people living in their community. The idea of calling a disease anyone can have “gay cancer.” truly breaks my heart and really called for the need of this activism from heroes like Strub.
Olivia Tijerina
I was devastated to find out that through the upbringing of HIV/AIDS, there was a number of entitled people whom by their profession could have placed a lower number then 1987, 40,000 deaths. However, more devastation can come to the readers once they find that it was in 1985 where 47% of people avoided those whom had HIV/Aids. Moreover, the message told by the story of Sean Strub lead the story to have perspective through his own journey, but in most cases was relevant to others whom also had HIV/AIDS.
Rosa Robledo Martinez
This article was a real eye opener, for example I didn’t really know a lot about AIDS and how it can affect people in our society. I really learned a lot about thE AIDS outbreak and how the government really did nothing to help contribute for the people in need. I am glad that I read this article, because it helped me grasp a better understanding of the meaning behind AIDS in what the people have to go through.
Maranda Avina
Great Job on this article! It was interesting reading the history of AIDS during Sean’s time. Growing up i have heard about the AIDS epidemic but never really knew what it was about. In my family we did not talk about it because one of my cousins had AIDS and we did not see him differently so there was no point to look into it. I know the difficulties that it has on someone and those around them but you are right, it does not define them or their lives. My cousin is still alive living a healthy lifestyle pursuing what he loves doing. I think it is great that people see this side of such diseases, its not all bad.
Elizabeth Guardiola
The number of individuals who have suffered and died from AIDS is very disheartening. I have never considered the fact that discrimination towards homosexuals has led them to suffer a great deal due to, dare I say, an intentional lack of resources. The government chose to ignore this epidemic as a direct message to the people that they are not concerned about their health due to their sexual orientation.
Alexis Aranda
This article was very carefully crafted, and well put. AIDS is a very intense topic that not many people are educated about the outbreak and the harm that it caused within different communities. It still upsets me knowing that AIDS has taken so many lives and that both doctors and politicians didn’t put more effort on trying to find a cure to it sooner. I believe that more people need to be educated on the matter and to get rid of the stigma that is tied around AIDS patients!
Josephine Tran
The author’s voice was so strong and stylistic especially at the start of the article which served as a good tone setter and attention grabber. One of the biggest takeaways from this article for me is the unfortunate reality of how the media portrays individuals inflicted with the disease AIDS. Even to this day, the struggle of AIDS goes beyond just that of physical illness. It is sad how society has remained taboo with little progression in the matter. I appreciated how informative this article was of AIDS in the society of the 1980s. I feel that including that helps us see exactly where all of the miscommunication stems from. I really do wish there had been more voice and justice given to those who were diagnosed with AIDS both now and especially back then.
Justin Martinez
I like how the author jumped right into the action. The entire piece was informative and keeps the readers entertained and into the story. I didn’t know much about AIDS or even that there were protests over it, I’m glad the author took the time to explain as much as possible about a topic like this.
Brianna Trevino
This article was very informative about the AIDS epidemic and how unhelpful the contribution of the governments lack response as well as Doctors themselves. It was also very sad to see how homophobic the 1980s were and the remarks towards gays “AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexual and telling them they had “ gay cancer” before it was called HIV’s. Sean Strub himself was a truly remarkable man who dedicated his life to activism to make a change in this world and give gays a voice that was meant to be heard.
Breanna Ortiz
This article really opened my eyes to the beginning of the AIDS and how it transformed from a type of pneumonia to HIV. Sean literally traveled through the entire process of being in the closet to being exposed the gay community out of his own hometown, to protests in bigger cities, and lastly to being sick himself. He was in denial of being sick from HIV until he started being more involved and reading articles that involved similar cases. I do like how it showed how the gay community was outraged by being the main group because if we look at AIDS today we see that it is not just the gay community that is involved in having AIDS.