Thanks for sharing this...and thank you so much for all your bravery to get involved for those of us who couldn't. It was indeed a bizarrely confusing time then. I remember the debate about closing bathhouses vs. keeping them open in order to spread information about HIV/AIDS. So much information all the time from so many directions. Were we in intentional denial? Was it just paralysis out of fear? Hard for people now to get a sense of what it was like. It's hard to get a sense of the scope of the disease and the fact that entire generation was basically wiped out or fled into hiding in the hills or back into their closets. It is so important to remember the few people in the storm who were willing to act up, fight back and fight AIDS.
He's fascinating and a good storyteller. I enjoyed listening to this and his magazine story. I always enjoy hearing stories from 70/80s, such a fascinating time in LGBT history.
Thank you for telling a piece of your story, Jay! Near the end of 83 was when I moved from NYC to SF. Having been involved in gay groups and politics in school and the community I remember how much misinformation and finger-pointing there was. I always thought that it was off-base. I knew what my peers (late teens and early 20s) were doing, I used to drive the carpool to the Club Baths and Christopher St Piers! (I was the "one" with a car LOL). Once in SF I found a similar situation, people wanting to think that they weren't at risk by pointing to other groups of gay men. I worked for Shanti when it was just transitioning from a cancer hospice to AIDS hospice. Hard times, scary times. Soon after they closed the baths here. Within a couple of years we had our own ACT-UP chapter and we were off and running. Still work in the field to this day doing substance and mental health counseling for the SF AIDS Foundation.
@@nikicarrie4071 You're welcome. I actually had to look it up - apparently the first case in April of 1981 was documented in SF and within months there were cases documented in NYC and LA. It's difficult to really know where as they didn't know about HIV yet so the cases were documented when people presented ill, usually quite far along in their development of immune compromised afflictions. In the beginning there was no "test", and we were diagnosed based on a set of symptoms.
@@tatsf ty for responding !!! How do you feel looking back and all the advancements science has made?it's so different now, completely different. Do you have any friends from back then still here like you ? 🥺🥺 you guys should get together once a year !!! That would be amazing ❤️ I'm so glad your here !!! You men are literally the pieces that worked so hard for this generation. Congratulations, your fight made everything possible for these men of today and future generations. No one will forget your sacrifice
@@nikicarrie4071 Thank you for your kind comments and your interest! I am very fortunate to live in San Francisco where there are actually many long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. Of course, many more friends and acquaintances have passed. I didn't sero-convert myself until '96, so 26 years ago now. At that moment in time HIV meds took a big turn and the more modern meds combos that we think of today came into being (at least some, more followed in the coming years). I really appreciate you acknowledging the efforts and work done by those of us from previous generations. So many think that those things are forgotten. In my work at the SF AIDS Foundation I facilitate a group for older gay/bi/trans/queer men and it brings me a lot of happiness to be able to provide a way for them to break isolation, be acknowledged, and feel seen and heard! Thanks again for your interest, time, and respect! It means a lot!
@@tatsf I would like to meet some of those men . You guys paved the way cry🥺❤️🩹 you are heros . I can't imagine. I really can't. I'm happy your still with us. There should be a Rembrandt for early men . You volunteer for aids awareness in San Francisco? You probably meet so many interesting people. I hope all of you are OK ❤️ I'm amazed to talk you honestly. Tha k you so much ❤️ for your conversation
We're probably around the same age. In 1983, I had not long come out about that time. I remember thinking that I was just beginning to embrace who I was at the time when I was beginning to discover the nature and gravity of the AIDS crisis. Selfishly I was thinking "Great, now that I've accepted that I'm gay I have THIS to contend with!!" The way we were!!!
An old comment but I had to say how much this resonates with my own life. Here in the UK it was the summer of 1983 and at 21 I had just graduated from university excited about the future. I had deeply repressed my sexuality and had a great group of decidedly heterosexual friends at uni but, having left, I decided finally it was time to live the life of the person I really was. I was with friends one hot August evening and on TV was a documentary called ‘Killer in the village’ about a mysterious seemingly fatal illness befalling gay men in Greenwich Village in New York which was likely to spread both nationally and internationally. I was horrified and in that moment any desire to explore my sexuality was extinguished (for another few years anyway). I often think of how critical the timing was that if I’d been at that stage just two years previously my life trajectory may have been very different (and possibly a lot shorter).
It is interesting the difference of people’s experience with the HIV pandemic. The state of Michigan had a small fraction of the cases that cities like NYC, DC, SF, and other major cities had during the 80s and early 90s.
From intern to jizz mopper to AIDS activist-Btw, I don’t know why the activists were so stuck up about your job at the baths. Half of them were or had until shortly after they began activism, religiously frequenting those dens of iniquity. And no AIDS did not start at the baths…the same way gasoline doesn’t start a fire. But it fuels it exponentially.
I remember going to the St. Marks in 1983. Indeed, they handed out lube in little paper cups, like the kind used in a restaurant for ketchup or tartar sauce. It was quite a place!
Thanks for sharing this...and thank you so much for all your bravery to get involved for those of us who couldn't. It was indeed a bizarrely confusing time then. I remember the debate about closing bathhouses vs. keeping them open in order to spread information about HIV/AIDS. So much information all the time from so many directions. Were we in intentional denial? Was it just paralysis out of fear? Hard for people now to get a sense of what it was like. It's hard to get a sense of the scope of the disease and the fact that entire generation was basically wiped out or fled into hiding in the hills or back into their closets. It is so important to remember the few people in the storm who were willing to act up, fight back and fight AIDS.
David Rumsey great commentary! Thank you.
He's fascinating and a good storyteller. I enjoyed listening to this and his magazine story. I always enjoy hearing stories from 70/80s, such a fascinating time in LGBT history.
Thank you for telling a piece of your story, Jay! Near the end of 83 was when I moved from NYC to SF. Having been involved in gay groups and politics in school and the community I remember how much misinformation and finger-pointing there was. I always thought that it was off-base. I knew what my peers (late teens and early 20s) were doing, I used to drive the carpool to the Club Baths and Christopher St Piers! (I was the "one" with a car LOL). Once in SF I found a similar situation, people wanting to think that they weren't at risk by pointing to other groups of gay men. I worked for Shanti when it was just transitioning from a cancer hospice to AIDS hospice. Hard times, scary times. Soon after they closed the baths here. Within a couple of years we had our own ACT-UP chapter and we were off and running. Still work in the field to this day doing substance and mental health counseling for the SF AIDS Foundation.
Did tge epidemic start in NY first or San Francisco? Ty for your story
@@nikicarrie4071 You're welcome. I actually had to look it up - apparently the first case in April of 1981 was documented in SF and within months there were cases documented in NYC and LA. It's difficult to really know where as they didn't know about HIV yet so the cases were documented when people presented ill, usually quite far along in their development of immune compromised afflictions. In the beginning there was no "test", and we were diagnosed based on a set of symptoms.
@@tatsf ty for responding !!! How do you feel looking back and all the advancements science has made?it's so different now, completely different. Do you have any friends from back then still here like you ? 🥺🥺 you guys should get together once a year !!! That would be amazing ❤️ I'm so glad your here !!! You men are literally the pieces that worked so hard for this generation. Congratulations, your fight made everything possible for these men of today and future generations. No one will forget your sacrifice
@@nikicarrie4071 Thank you for your kind comments and your interest! I am very fortunate to live in San Francisco where there are actually many long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. Of course, many more friends and acquaintances have passed. I didn't sero-convert myself until '96, so 26 years ago now. At that moment in time HIV meds took a big turn and the more modern meds combos that we think of today came into being (at least some, more followed in the coming years). I really appreciate you acknowledging the efforts and work done by those of us from previous generations. So many think that those things are forgotten. In my work at the SF AIDS Foundation I facilitate a group for older gay/bi/trans/queer men and it brings me a lot of happiness to be able to provide a way for them to break isolation, be acknowledged, and feel seen and heard! Thanks again for your interest, time, and respect! It means a lot!
@@tatsf I would like to meet some of those men . You guys paved the way cry🥺❤️🩹 you are heros . I can't imagine. I really can't. I'm happy your still with us. There should be a Rembrandt for early men . You volunteer for aids awareness in San Francisco? You probably meet so many interesting people. I hope all of you are OK ❤️ I'm amazed to talk you honestly. Tha k you so much ❤️ for your conversation
Ty for being a trailblazer!
"Oh great...i won't have to hand out lube anymore"...lmaooo
We're probably around the same age. In 1983, I had not long come out about that time. I remember thinking that I was just beginning to embrace who I was at the time when I was beginning to discover the nature and gravity of the AIDS crisis. Selfishly I was thinking "Great, now that I've accepted that I'm gay I have THIS to contend with!!" The way we were!!!
I was the same age and in the same situation except I was in Dallas, Texas.
An old comment but I had to say how much this resonates with my own life. Here in the UK it was the summer of 1983 and at 21 I had just graduated from university excited about the future. I had deeply repressed my sexuality and had a great group of decidedly heterosexual friends at uni but, having left, I decided finally it was time to live the life of the person I really was. I was with friends one hot August evening and on TV was a documentary called ‘Killer in the village’ about a mysterious seemingly fatal illness befalling gay men in Greenwich Village in New York which was likely to spread both nationally and internationally. I was horrified and in that moment any desire to explore my sexuality was extinguished (for another few years anyway). I often think of how critical the timing was that if I’d been at that stage just two years previously my life trajectory may have been very different (and possibly a lot shorter).
THANK YOU.
It is interesting the difference of people’s experience with the HIV pandemic. The state of Michigan had a small fraction of the cases that cities like NYC, DC, SF, and other major cities had during the 80s and early 90s.
I loved your story, honey! ♥️💚💜💙🧡 Thanks for sharing it!!!!
From intern to jizz mopper to AIDS activist-Btw, I don’t know why the activists were so stuck up about your job at the baths. Half of them were or had until shortly after they began activism, religiously frequenting those dens of iniquity.
And no AIDS did not start at the baths…the same way gasoline doesn’t start a fire. But it fuels it exponentially.
From a teen magazine to the baths to Fire Island. Interesting times create interesting stories.
Incredible story Thanks.
Wow..im seeing this in 2020 coronavirus pandemic..scary times then...scary times now..!thnks for sharing..!!
so there was poop juice everywhere ? they did not douch back then?
There's always poop juice even if you douche...
I feel like being gay is more then just sex or a bathhouse....
Nice video
I remember going to the St. Marks in 1983. Indeed, they handed out lube in little paper cups, like the kind used in a restaurant for ketchup or tartar sauce. It was quite a place!