Authors: Randy Shilts
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, 20th-Anniversary Edition
The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military
POLITICS, PEOPLE, AND THE AIDS EPIDEMIC
20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
For Ann Neuenschwander
I would not have been able to write this book if I had not been a reporter at the
San Francisco Chronicle,
the only daily newspaper in the United States that did not need a movie star to come down with AIDS before it considered the epidemic a legitimate news story deserving thorough coverage. Because of the
Chronicle
’s enlightened stance, I have had free rein to cover this epidemic since 1982; since 1983, I have spent virtually all my time reporting on AIDS. My reporting provided the core of this book. While this newspaper’s commitment is a credit to all levels of
Chronicle
management, I particularly want to thank my city editor, Alan Mutter, who believed in the value of this story long before it was fashionable. I’m also grateful to the following
Chronicle
colleagues for their guidance and assistance: Katy Butler, David Perlman, Jerry Burns, Keith Power, and Kathy Finberg. The
Chronicle’s
library staff, especially Charlie Malarkey, also helped immensely.
My newspaper reporting would never have been transformed into a book if it were not for the faith of my editor at St. Martin’s Press, Michael Denneny. He believed in this project when most in publishing doubted that the epidemic would ever prove serious enough to warrant a major book. I’m also grateful to the confidence of my agent, Fred Hill.
A number of other people helped me edit the manuscript. Without the constant encouragement, hand-holding, and insightful editing of Doris Ober, I could never have made it to the end of what became a very long tome. I’m also grateful to Katie Leishman and Rex Adkins for devoting their extraordinary editing talents to the manuscript.
The research phase of the book required much travel and would not have been tolerable without hosts such as Poul Birch Eriksen in Copenhagen, Mark Pinney in New York City, and Bob Canning and Steve Sansweet in Los Angeles. I’m also thankful to Frank Robinson, who kept voluminous files on the epidemic and generously shared them all with me. Among the other people who charitably opened their files to me were Tim Westmoreland, Dan Turner, David Nimmons, Jeff Richardson, Lawrence Schulman, Tom Murray of
The Sentinel,
Don Michaels of the
Washington Blade,
Terry Biern of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and Jim Kepner of the AIDS History Project at the International Gay and Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles. Steve Unger and Fred Hoffman provided expert computer assistance. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the help I got from the media relations staffs of San Francisco General Hospital, Pasteur Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and especially Chuck Fallis at the Centers for Disease Control. They made my job much easier.
I remain indebted to my brothers Reed Shilts, Russell Dennis Shilts III, and Gary Shilts for their support during the long writing process. I’m also blessed by some terrific friends who stuck by me during the insanity of this project: Janie Krohn, Bill Reiner, David Israels, Bill Cagle, Will Pretty, and Rich Shortell. Thanks also to the friends of Bill W. who sustained me with their experience, strength, and hope.
Ultimately, a reporter is only as good as his sources. The people to whom I remain most grateful are the hundreds who shared their time with me both during my newspaper reporting and during the book research. Many were scientists and doctors who carved large blocks of time out of hectic schedules. My deep background and off-the-record sources were also invaluable; you know who you are, and I thank you.
The people for whom I will always bear special reverence are those who were suffering from AIDS and who gave some of their last hours for interviews, sometimes while they were on their deathbeds laboring for breath. When I’d ask why they’d take the time for this, most hoped that something they said would save someone else from suffering. If there is an act that better defines heroism, I have not seen it.
D
R
. F
RANCOISE
B
ARRE
, a researcher with the Pasteur Institute, the first to isolate the AIDS virus.
D
R
. B
OB
B
IGGAR
, a researcher with the Environmental Epidemiology branch of the National Cancer Institute.
F
RANCES
B
ORCHELT
, a San Francisco grandmother.
D
R
. E
DWARD
B
RANDT
, Assistant Secretary for Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
J
OE
B
REWER
, a gay psychotherapist in San Francisco’s Castro Street neighborhood.
H
ARRY
B
RITT
, the only openly gay member of San Francisco’s board of supervisors, the local equivalent of a city council.
U.S. R
EPRESENTATIVE
P
HILIP
B
URTON
, a staunch liberal who represented San Francisco in Congress.
U.S. R
EPRESENTATIVE
S
ALA
B
URTON
succeeded her husband in Congress.
M
ICHAEL
C
ALLEN
, a rock singer who organized the People With AIDS Coalition in New York City.
L
U
C
HAIKIN
, a lesbian psychotherapist in San Francisco’s Castro Street neighborhood
D
R
. J
EAN
-C
LAUDE
C
HERMANN
, pan of the Pasteur Institute team that first isolated the AIDS virus.
D
R
. M
ARCUS
C
ONANT
, a dermatologist affiliated with the University of California at San Francisco.
D
R
. J
AMES
C
URRAN
, an epidemiologist and director of AIDS research efforts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
W
ILLIAM
D
ARROW
, a sociologist and epidemiologist involved with AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control.
D
R
. W
ALTER
D
OWDLE
, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases.
D
R
. S
ELMA
D
RITZ
, assistant director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
G
AETAN
D
UGAS
, a French-Canadian airline steward for Air Canada, one of the first North Americans diagnosed with AIDS.
D
R.
M
YRON
“M
AX
” E
SSEX
, a retrovirologist with Harvard University School of Public Health.
S
ANDRA
F
ORD
, a drug technician at the Centers for Disease Control.
D
R
. W
ILLIAM
F
OEGE
, director of the Centers for Disease Control during the first years of the AIDS epidemic.
D
R
. D
ONALD
F
RANCIS
, a retrovirologist who directed laboratory efforts for AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control.
D
R
. R
OBERT
G
ALLO
, a retrovirologist with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda.
D
R
. M
ICHAEL
G
OTTLIEB
, an immunologist with the University of California at Los Angeles.
E
NRIQUE
“K
ICO
” G
OVANTES
, a gay San Francisco artist, lover of Bill Kraus.
D
R
. J
AMES
G
ROUNDWATER
, a dermatologist who treated San Francisco’s first reported AIDS case.
D
R
. M
ARY
G
UINAN
, an epidemiologist involved with early AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control.
M
ARGARET
H
ECKLER
, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from early 1983 through the end of 1985.
K
EN
H
ORNE
, the first reported AIDS case in San Francisco.
D
R
. H
AROLD
J
AFFE
, an epidemiologist with the AIDS program at the Centers for Disease Control.
C
LEVE
J
ONES
, a San Francisco gay activist, organizer of the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation.
L
ARRY
K
RAMER
, novelist, playwright, and film producer, organizer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City.
B
ILL
K
RAUS
, prominent San Francisco gay leader, aide to U.S. Reps. Philip and Sala Burton.
M
ATTHEW
K
RIEGER
, a San Francisco graphic designer, lover of Gary Walsh.
D
R
. M
ATHILDE
K
RIM
, socially prominent cancer researcher, organized the AIDS Medical Foundation.
D
R
. D
ALE
L
AWRENCE
, conducted early studies of AIDS in hemophiliacs and blood transfusion recipients for the Centers for Disease Control.
M
ICHAEL
M
ALETTA
, hair dresser who was one of San Francisco’s early AIDS cases.
D
R
. J
AMES
M
ASON
, director of the Centers for Disease Control since late 1983, served as acting Assistant Secretary for Health in 1985.
R
ODGER
M
C
F
ARLANE
, executive director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City.
D
R
. D
ONNA
M
ILDVAN
, AIDS researcher at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan.
D
R
. L
UC
M
ONTAGNIER
, head of the Pasteur Institute team that first isolated the AIDS virus.
J
ACK
N
AU
, one of New York City’s early AIDS cases, a former lover of Paul Popham.
E
NNO
P
OERSCH
, a graphic designer drawn into AIDS organizing because of the death of his lover, Nick, in early 1981.
P
AUL
P
OPHAM
, Wall Street businessman, president of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
D
R
. G
RETHE
R
ASK
, Danish surgeon in Zaire, first westerner documented to have died of AIDS.
D
R
. W
ILLY
R
OZENBAUM
, leading AIDS clinician in Paris.
D
R
. A
RYE
R
UBINSTEIN
, immunologist in the Bronx, among the first to detect AIDS in infants.
D
R
. D
AVID
S
ENCER
, health commissioner of New York City.
D
R
. M
ERVYN
S
ILVERMAN
, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
D
R
. P
AUL
V
OLBERDING
, director of the San Francisco General Hospital AIDS Clinic.
G
ARY
W
ALSH
, a San Francisco gay psychotherapist, early organizer of AIDS sufferers.
U.S. R
EPRESENTATIVE
H
ENRY
W
AXMAN
of Los Angeles, chair of House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
D
R
. J
OEL
W
EISMAN
, a prominent gay physician in Los Angeles, among the first to detect the AIDS epidemic.
R
ICK
W
ELUKOFF
, a Brooklyn schoolteacher who was among the nation’s first AIDS cases, close friend of Paul Popham.
T
IM
W
ESTMORELAND
, counsel to the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
D
R
. D
AN
W
ILLIAM
, a prominent gay physician in New York City.