AIDS Activism

Uncredited Journal Entry- "Judy at March on Washington"

Oral History Quote

[Speaking about developing confidence in his sexual identity through his involvement in the LGSA] It was in the middle of that was the ‘87 March in Washington. Where, to be in the nation's capital, with all its symbology and iconography, to be surrounded completely by other gay people, you know. To have that experience. And I remember very clearly, Rebecca Hensler and I went to the metro in DC. And it was filled with people who had just left the march! And, I think I actually wrote about this, or maybe she wrote about this in Not Guilty, now that I think about it. And I started chanting as we walked to the train,  “What do we want?” The entire station, thousands of people, shouted, “Gay rights!” And I yell, “When do we want them?” An entire station erupted, “Now!” And I remember walking through the station, chanting this. It was, like, almost out of the movie, right? You can almost see the [camera] pan along, with the one guy yelling the entire train responding. And then, at the end Rebecca found me, and said, “See? I didn't lose you.” But it was that feeling of ownership, of owning the world. I think it has shaped me, and continues to shape who I am.

-Derek Livingston remembering himself and Rebecca Hensler in Washington DC for the 1987 March on the Capitol for AIDS Awareness 

Rebecca Entry- "AIDSPOEM 4: I Never"

Oral History Quotes

[Speaking about significant events on campus] The other was the AIDS crisis, of course, right? And that was, you know, it was alarming. It was fairly new at that time. 1982 is really when it was first announced. “There's this disease.” But I do remember one of the things that the LGSA did was we invited people to talk about safe sex. Because this is something that nobody talked about, right? Brown Health Service wouldn't touch it, wouldn't talk about it. There was just silence around it. And so, we have to actually go out there and find people and say, “Okay. How do we safely have sex?” Or, “What is it? How is this disease transmitted?” I mean, there's absolutely zero information on campus about it. People were having to make decisions, because it's kind of a life and death situation that was really, I think, impacting all of the students in the organization. Especially the men, because that was, you know, primarily who it was affecting.

-Anthony Raynsford speaking about early emergence and impact of the AIDS crisis 

This was the eighties. There was no treatment. It was a death sentence, and there was a period in the early 80s where you didn't even know you could get it, right? And young gay men coming out had to confront the prospect of being in harm's way just to express their sexuality, and there were no effective tools. There were a couple of guys on campus who were very, very sort of active in that way. One ended up dropping out. His name was Stephen Gendin. He moved to New York and became one of the most important AIDS activists in the eighties. 

-Ellen LaPointe speaking about Stephen Gendin, and the campus climate for gay men during the AIDs crisis

Specifically, during that second year at Brown, I came into my identity as an activist, realizing that was what I wanted to do with my life. And that's really what I did in the years immediately following being at Brown. I was very serious about my AIDS activism, then I transitioned from direct action to getting work as a community health outreach worker and an HIV counselor, then being an HIV counselor led to me becoming a school counselor. But once I became a school counselor, within a couple of years I took on a role of providing, specifically, support for LGBTQ+ youth. And so I feel like there's this very, at least internally, clear path from that part of my life. 

-Rebecca Hensler speaking about how her years in AIDs activism at Brown led to her long term career of supporting LGBTQ+ youth