NTFAP
The Early Years, till 1991
The National Task Force on AIDS Prevention
1985 - 87
The San Francisco Chapter of BWMT formed its AIDS Task Force in 1985. This evolved into a non-profit AIDS service provider, Bay Area HIV Support and Education Services (BAHSES)
NTFAP (National Task Force on AIDS Prevention) was part of BAHSES.
Reggie tested HIV-positive in 1986, at the age of 35.
Reggie getting arrested in DC, 1987
1988
NTFAP is officially funded and receives grants to provide HIV/AIDS prevention services/programs targeting African American & other gay men of color MSMs (men having sex with men)
First office located in the attic of a Victorian house on Church & 15th Street
Then relocates to a new office on O’Farrell Street
NTFAP staff photo shortly after moving to O'Farrell Street Office: Al, Feeb, Alan, Gavin, Jaime
In 1988 Reggie was one of the co-founders of the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, the first nationwide organization targeting Black Gay men. Reggie served as the Task Force's Executive Director until his retirement in February 1994.
Please read the Mission Statement and their History and AIDS Prevention Goals.
The NTFAP existed until 1998.
1989
Programs
EACH - Early Advocacy & Care for HIV
EMC2 - Educational Models for Community Change
GMOCC - Gay Men of Color Consortium
1989/1990 - A group of five gay men of color (Douglas Yaranon, Phill Tingley, Rodrigo Reyes, Steve Lew and Reggie Williams) start the San Francisco Gay Men of Color Consortium.
- The Brothers Network
- Risk Reduction Community Models
with Brandy Moore (1949-1994)
1989, Simon Nkoli, photo by J. Potratz
1989
Douglas, Feeb, Simon, ..., Pat Norman, John T., Reggie
June, 1989, West Hollywood, CA.
The first national “train the trainers” for HOT, HORNY & HEALTHY, A SAFER SEX PLAYSHOP, June, 1989, West Hollywood, CA. REGGIE (far left, back row) and PHILL WILSON (photographer) led the training, assisted by ERIC PEREZ (Esquizito, far right, back row), and DR. LAVERNE MIDDLETON (3rd from right, front row).
Hot, Horny and Healthy
with Shurland
Marlon Riggs (l), Reggie Williams, Essex Hemphill (r), July 1989. Premiere of Tongues Untied Photos
1989 Tongues Untied
Reggie Williams, Executive Director National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, at House Government Ops. Subcommittee
In another article by Marilyn Chase, published 6/14/90: "Black Gay Men Found to Continue AIDS-Risk Activity " she cites Reggie Williams:
"While they've heard the message of AIDS, it hasn't translated into safe-sex behavior all the time," said study director Reggie Williams, executive director of the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention of the National Association of Black and White Men Together. Mr. Williams said he hoped the study would serve as a spur to fund more aggressive programs of outreach and education, designed to reach minority populations. Few of the survey respondents were aware, for example, that blacks die of AIDS at a five times faster rate than do whites, he said.
"Education programs need to be targeted to the black gay and bisexual communities," he said. "We hope that will help them to do what they need to do to save their lives."
2001
One Life for Another: The Survivor's Story, with photographs (1987) by Barbi Schreiber
Dressing Up History - Gay stories come alive at historical society (sfgate.com, 2001)
... One poignant photograph at the exhibit -- of activist Reggie Williams (1951-1999) -- speaks volumes. Behind his handsome portrait is the story of a hero, one of the few who dared to be publicly recognised as a person with AIDS in a time when the HIV infection was still considered a "gay plague" that could get you evicted or fired.
A founder of the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention and Black and White Men Together, Williams was part of a movement that emphasized safe sex and vaccine development while partaking of available medications.
In the personal statement written 14 years ago to accompany his photograph, Williams wrote, "I can take AZT or whatever drugs are developed to prolong my life for a time but my hope is for finding a vaccine to prevent the children of the future from getting the disease."
Finding Aid to the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, 1986-1994 Collection Summary
Collection is open for research.
UCSF Library - AIDS History Project