Across the world, people have created a movement to fight AIDS. San Francisco's contribution to this fight grew out of the Gay Liberation Movement. The San Francisco AIDS story is a tale of how gay rights became human rights.
Part 1 Before, the groovy seventies: coming to SF, leaving the war
behind, free to be you and me; from the bars, the ghettos and villages to
open participation within the greater society; Anita Bryant, O.J., t-shirts
and milk "it was the most political time"; the White Night riots. Part 2 The
early years: the early years, the Reagan era, first hearing; community
responses, the first wave of AIDS activism; test results, time bombs, Rambo
and the '84 Summer Olympics. Part 3 Death: bearing witness to the dying; room
for loss, evolving American attitudes toward death; but fight like hell for
the living. Part 4 Families, evolving, demographics, and otherness: waves,
beyond border, Mexico City and "el SIDA"; 100per cent Americanisms versus the
other HIV, the other and the question of the American family; HIV and the
mosaic of American poverty; "opportunistic affections" - tragic, often absurd
trials and tribulations of love in the time of HIV disease; days and lives
within SF model; WORLD (women organized to respond to life threatening
diseases). Part 5 Body, culture, and spirit: AIDS and the American psyche;
battle cries, AIDS and the arts; AZT, white lab coats, and cultural
arrogance; evolving notions of the doctor/patient relationship; "you gotta
give 'em hope" - Harvey Milk living long-term with HIV. Part 6 Fragmentation:
friends versus friends, the left versus the left - the Clinton years; the
battle less chosen - health care, the death of AIDS activism? Part 7
Institutionalization: Aids Inc as the revolution slowed the state of
maintenance; Aids in context. Part 8 Parting glances: ghosts walking down
Castro Street; "all anybody ever talks about is 'so and so's dying"'
