Absolutely incredible and rare footage of the first-line -- Gaetan Dugas, Paul Popham. Truly valuable piece of history here. I had never previously seen any live footage of either of those gentlemen. Thanks for putting this out here!
Gaetan was very good looking and ,as a flight attendant, he traveled widely. The combination of these two factors caused him to spread AIDS.I agree he didn`t bring AIDS to North America, but he certainly helped spread it.@@shaheedharun445
LMSanz-- It's almost unfathomable that this video, and perhaps any others that might contain more of the forum, are not more widely known in the "AIDS historian" community. The footage of that forum is a rare gem that looks back into a time when we didn't even know it was a virus yet.
This was the first AIDS Information Forum on March 12, 1983 at Vancouver’s Westend Community Centre and Gaëtan Dugas who appears at the 6:57 minute mark died exactly one year later on March 30, 1984.
This video, although containing incredibly valuable historic footage, spits on all the graves of my friends who died of AIDS. To dedicate this video to a man who knowingly infected people is reprehensible and sociopathic. Randy Shilts is a hero who chronicled the history of AIDS, and like Larry Kramer becomes vilified by the very people he's telling the truth to. Gaetan's doctor is so unbelievable it's frightening. My teenage and early adult years were also distinguished by a disturbing, frightening reality that landed in my world just as I was released from Sylmar Juvenile Hall to the streets at 17 in 1982. Actually, I landed in the middle of it: AIDS, and the deaths of almost everyone I knew.On the streets back then, death was everywhere, walking among us, palpable to all of us who were ostracized from society. Can you imagine losing over 30 of your close friends at 17 to a disease that had no name yet? You were probably enjoying your senior year of high school, looking forward to graduating. I was surviving, but terrified, while caring for the sick and dying, nursing kids who were castigated not only for who they were, but who then had to suffer the indignity of dying alone while their families self-righteously ignored them. One sick young man told me to warn everyone that something horrible was happening “out there” and he did not want it to happen to them. He said this to me while dying in my arms. At the end, he was love and light. His father was a minister who had kicked him out of the house for being gay, and then refused to attend his own son’s funeral because he died of that “gay disease.” Watching the world (especially supposed Christians) not only burn houses down but brutalizing my friends - true victims - with such voracious hate seared anger and frustration into my soul. Instead of extending compassion to dying human beings, the Christians condemned them. Instead of leading with love, they led with judgment. They hated, so I hated them back. I resented Christians for years, but I have since learned that holding on to resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. I will never forget, but I have forgiven them. I was an early volunteer at APLA and delivered groceries and medicine to men on their deathbeds. By 1991, I had been to 97 funerals. How dare you dedicate this video to a sociopath like Gaetan Dugas. some
Shawn Mayotte-- Your story is heart-wrenching, scary, and inspiring at the same time. Have you ever published any of your experiences or been involved in any of the recent (last 10 years) documentaries of the early years? If you have, I would love to read it or hear about it.
Well, part of the point of this video is that Gaetan Dugas may actually *not* have *knowingly* infected other people, no? And even if he did, while that would have made him grossly irresponsible and reckless, that doesn't mean that the whole "Patient Zero" theory hasn't been discredited (in fact, it's been debunked for decades). While I agree with you that Randy Shilts and Larry Kramer were heroes on the whole, that doesn't 'mean that they may have made some mistakes along the way. I feel you on everything else you said, though. It seems I'm about 20 years or so younger than you, having turned 17 in 2002. I couldn't imagine going through what you experienced. Many props to you for helping AIDS patients the best way you could and making it through that horrible crisis with your sanity intact.
Okay, so this is what I thought I remembered reading in the past: Dugas was probably reckless as hell-at best-in continuing to have promiscuous sex after his diagnoses, but he was *not* Patient Zero: th-cam.com/video/EA-WMnC-zH8/w-d-xo.html.
You need to pay better attention. He is telling where AIDS came from. He was NOT patient zero, and he did not spread it all over the US. He was stigmatized because he was the only one to give his contacts to the doctors. AIDS came from an experimental HepB vaccine.
@@timmarkell402 an interview of a doctor who talked to Geatan in early 1984 a few months before he died claimed that he told Geatan he was getting others sick and he didn't care at all and said if he has it why shouldn't they get it as well
@@timmarkell402 also it shouldn't matter because there is proof of him still going to bath houses and hooking up even after 1981 when he found out he had AIDS
Reading Shilts' book now. He's a good storyteller. Without passing judgment on what is and isn't correct in his book, I'll say that I notice in his writing a quietly seething, bitter, at times sarcastic overtone - a looming feeling that "all of you f***ers could have done more and saved so many more lives" including Shilts' own life - AIDS got him in 1994. I can only imagine how such an experience might magnify the contempt one might feel for those who disregard the importance of safety.
Gaetan Dugas pisses me off. He knew he was spreading it. He reminds me of someone I knew (not friends with,but he was friends with someone I knew) that found out he was positive and continued to have sex with naive 18 years old that were just coming out of the closet and didn't know about his reputation. No protection, nothing said about his status...word got around and I believe he finally stopped. He refused to take meds and passed away about five years ago. I didn't feel sorry for him at all, just like I have no pity for Gaetan. At least Gaetan was dead within a year so that he couldn't keep spreading it.
@@Js2557ty The best evidence of Dugas' complicity in knowingly spreading the virus comes from the former Asst. Director of the San Francisco Health Department, Selma Dritz (look her up). After men started complaining about Dugas having sex in the bath houses after he knew he was sick, Dritz had a conversation with him. In this conversation, she told Dugas to quit having unprotected sex with people. Dritz stated that Dugas said "screw you lady" and walked out. Dritz had nothing to do with the book and did not know Randy Shilts. Look up the piece on "60 Minutes" called "Patient Zero" from 1986 (I think). It is on TH-cam.
Most people have not even directly met 2000 people in a single lifetime, much less shagged them. How is it possible to have such a insatiable sex drive or be physically capable of that much smash? This dude literally took and gave kilometers of meat.
‘Found out he was positive’ Dugas died before we even knew it was caused by a virus. Infecting people with what exactly? The scientific evidence of it being sexual transmitted did not even exist, it literally was an educated guess by a homophobic medical establishment. Time and context matters. You’re perpetuating the garbage that has been debunked thoroughly as of 2024.
Unbelievable this was over 40 years ago; halfway back to 1942 and the world engulfed in war. A fascinating glimpse of a dark and urgent time as if the fear of a medieval plague.
AIDS Vancouver is the only AIDS service organization worth its weight. Positive Living Society of BC has a bloated membership for funding purposes that cannot be justified. AIDS Vancouver provides a safe place and much needed services.
For 18 years I volunteered at God's Love We Deliver, New York City's premier AIDS/HIV-related charity. It remains more valuable than its weight in gold. Thank goodness for ALL such related charities. And thank God we've come a long way since the late 1970s and 1980s. I can assure you that many don 't remember when people, primarily gay, white, and male, were dying like flies, , week-in and week-out, and we had no medical answer accordingly. So, let's not sugarcoat from whence we came, and how we got here.
While it is true that many of the original AIDS victims in the United States were young gay men, AIDS doesn't just affect gay people. For example, subSaharan Africa has been ravaged by AIDS for decades, and there is no way that all of the individuals who've died in SubSaharan Africa were gay. Also, it must be remembered that since HIV the virus that causes AIDS has no way of distinguishing between a gay person and a heterosexual.
They're not trying to say that, they're just telling the story of HIV/AIDS in Vancouver. In the very early days of the epidemic that was very much an LGBT story.
Heather Sailes studys about transmission rates between straight hiv positive partners and non hiv positive parteners would indicate other wise but keep putting out misinformation
Yes, you folks don't like to be held accountable or stand alone, so you ALWAYS drag Africa into the equation. SAD & EVIL!!! This only affected other populous because gay men usually pretend to be normal and intermingle in the heterosexual community back then. It's clear how AIDS became a mainstream problem.
Female to male transmission is very rare amongst heterosexual couples, unless you have anal sex with an infected female. Women get it from bisexual men who also have sex with men. It is also illegal to be gay in Africa so most men do it behind closed doors. Africans also eat bushmeat which exposes them to many strains of SIV/HIV
Hi, I can't thank you enough for this video. To see the birth of a beautiful effort against AIDS in it's starting years had been an eyeopener. I am a student of history and need some unbiased information about Gaetan Dugas. for a project. Whatever I find in the net is a somewhat stilted view of Randy S. The Gaetan I saw here is so different!!! Can you please advise me as to where I can find information about him and his last days? Thank you so much for this wonderful video Mimi
Exactly how is what you saw here so different. I see a man, asking very pointed questions and attempting to put forth the idea that a hep vaccine caused the virus and skirting the issue that it is transmitted through sex. I am not sure why you need to rehabilitate this mans reputation but history has shown he was not patient zero but nothing can vindicate him of spreading the disease knowingly. You pointed to this post as a place to come to see a different side of Mr Dugas but it shows nothing of the sort.
I think I remember an interview when Randy Shilts spoke to the podcaster Making Gay History (he was a writer back then), Randy said the publishers of his book And the Band Played On really added embellishments to his book. Randy did say awful things about Dugas, which are unforgivable, but my point is that it was not just Shilts when it came to that book. I imagine there were homophobes in that publishing house that really wanted to ham up and demonise Dugas. Dugas had every right not to trust the CDC, the medical establishment had treated homosexuality like it was a mental illness, and there were gays who were even tortured in asylums. Why trust a system that has treated you like garbage. RIP Gaetan, you were not a bad person, you wanted to live ❤
This is absolutely historic GOLD.
Absolutely incredible and rare footage of the first-line -- Gaetan Dugas, Paul Popham. Truly valuable piece of history here. I had never previously seen any live footage of either of those gentlemen. Thanks for putting this out here!
A rare glimpse of the butt pounding mayhem of days gone by ...
@@barneyronnie Stop trolling. It isn't funny.
In a video
No patiënt zero in his epidemi....
7 years ago..
They explain how dugas was not patient zero ...
Very rare stuff here. From Paul Popham to Gaetan Dugas, this footage is very educational.
Popham and Gaetan were once lovers.Not at the time of this forum though.
@@1994g0What later on? Why would he become lovers with him w/ everyone knowing he had AIDS
@@shaheedharun445 They were lovers before the video.Once Gaetan’s sickness became known, most people shunned him.
@@1994g0 I see, thanks for explaining that. Wow he really got around lol
Gaetan was very good looking and ,as a flight attendant, he traveled widely. The combination of these two factors caused him to spread AIDS.I agree he didn`t bring AIDS to North America, but he certainly helped spread it.@@shaheedharun445
Very interesting, I'm surprise this has so little views regarding the historial relevance of this footage.
LMSanz I know, right?
LMSanz-- It's almost unfathomable that this video, and perhaps any others that might contain more of the forum, are not more widely known in the "AIDS historian" community. The footage of that forum is a rare gem that looks back into a time when we didn't even know it was a virus yet.
This was the first AIDS Information Forum on March 12, 1983 at Vancouver’s Westend Community Centre and Gaëtan Dugas who appears at the 6:57 minute mark died exactly one year later on March 30, 1984.
This video, although containing incredibly valuable historic footage, spits on all the graves of my friends who died of AIDS. To dedicate this video to a man who knowingly infected people is reprehensible and sociopathic. Randy Shilts is a hero who chronicled the history of AIDS, and like Larry Kramer becomes vilified by the very people he's telling the truth to. Gaetan's doctor is so unbelievable it's frightening. My teenage and early adult years were also distinguished by a disturbing, frightening reality that landed in my world just as I was released from Sylmar Juvenile Hall to the streets at 17 in 1982. Actually, I landed in the middle of it: AIDS, and the deaths of almost everyone I knew.On the streets back then, death was everywhere, walking among us, palpable to all of us who were ostracized from society. Can you imagine losing over 30 of your close friends at 17 to a disease that had no name yet? You were probably enjoying your senior year of high school, looking forward to graduating. I was surviving, but terrified, while caring for the sick and dying, nursing kids who were castigated not only for who they were, but who then had to suffer the indignity of dying alone while their families self-righteously ignored them.
One sick young man told me to warn everyone that something horrible was happening “out there” and he did not want it to happen to them. He said this to me while dying in my arms. At the end, he was love and light. His father was a minister who had kicked him out of the house for being gay, and then refused to attend his own son’s funeral because he died of that “gay disease.” Watching the world (especially supposed Christians) not only burn houses down but brutalizing my friends - true victims - with such voracious hate seared anger and frustration into my soul. Instead of extending compassion to dying human beings, the Christians condemned them. Instead of leading with love, they led with judgment. They hated, so I hated them back. I resented Christians for years, but I have since learned that holding on to resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. I will never forget, but I have forgiven them. I was an early volunteer at APLA and delivered groceries and medicine to men on their deathbeds. By 1991, I had been to 97 funerals. How dare you dedicate this video to a sociopath like Gaetan Dugas.
some
Thank you for your selfless hard work and endless love. Our community is stronger because of people like you.
Shawn Mayotte-- Your story is heart-wrenching, scary, and inspiring at the same time. Have you ever published any of your experiences or been involved in any of the recent (last 10 years) documentaries of the early years? If you have, I would love to read it or hear about it.
Well, part of the point of this video is that Gaetan Dugas may actually *not* have *knowingly* infected other people, no? And even if he did, while that would have made him grossly irresponsible and reckless, that doesn't mean that the whole "Patient Zero" theory hasn't been discredited (in fact, it's been debunked for decades). While I agree with you that Randy Shilts and Larry Kramer were heroes on the whole, that doesn't 'mean that they may have made some mistakes along the way.
I feel you on everything else you said, though. It seems I'm about 20 years or so younger than you, having turned 17 in 2002. I couldn't imagine going through what you experienced. Many props to you for helping AIDS patients the best way you could and making it through that horrible crisis with your sanity intact.
Okay, so this is what I thought I remembered reading in the past: Dugas was probably reckless as hell-at best-in continuing to have promiscuous sex after his diagnoses, but he was *not* Patient Zero: th-cam.com/video/EA-WMnC-zH8/w-d-xo.html.
You need to pay better attention. He is telling where AIDS came from. He was NOT patient zero, and he did not spread it all over the US. He was stigmatized because he was the only one to give his contacts to the doctors.
AIDS came from an experimental HepB vaccine.
This is the only film footage of Paul Popham that I've ever found. He was a good man. Thank you for posting this!
Tom Patchen Only video of patient zero to I think that's interesting
Same thought occurred to me. This is a rare and valuable piece of history.
Douglas Smith he wasn’t patient zero
www.c-span.org/video/?150141-1/status-aids-drug-development
Thank you for this link. Paul looked 20 years older but still so handsome and kind. Young Anthony Fauci, too. Amazing!
Anyone have the full video of Geatan speaking at the town hall that's not edited and parts cut?
Fascinating. Thank you for posting this!
Incredible footage. The last glimpse of Dugas the world probably has.
M60gunner1971 guess what- you’re the sociopath. If you knew anything about him you’d know the good he did after being diagnosed.
M60gunner1971 You believe 9/11 was an inside job. You don’t have the right to call ANYONE dumb.
I believe it's the _only_ known video of Dugas. I can see why everyone on the Scene was after him. Hot guy.
@@splinterbyrd He was gorgeous.But it was the devil`s beauty.He used his beauty to kill many men.
@@nikicarrie4071 Indeed.
From my understanding even after that small Vancouver meeting Gaetan still didn't warn people before hand but he would afterwards
What is your source for that?
@@timmarkell402 an interview of a doctor who talked to Geatan in early 1984 a few months before he died claimed that he told Geatan he was getting others sick and he didn't care at all and said if he has it why shouldn't they get it as well
@@timmarkell402 also it shouldn't matter because there is proof of him still going to bath houses and hooking up even after 1981 when he found out he had AIDS
*Thank you for this amazing footage*
Reading Shilts' book now. He's a good storyteller. Without passing judgment on what is and isn't correct in his book, I'll say that I notice in his writing a quietly seething, bitter, at times sarcastic overtone - a looming feeling that "all of you f***ers could have done more and saved so many more lives" including Shilts' own life - AIDS got him in 1994. I can only imagine how such an experience might magnify the contempt one might feel for those who disregard the importance of safety.
Gaetan Dugas pisses me off. He knew he was spreading it. He reminds me of someone I knew (not friends with,but he was friends with someone I knew) that found out he was positive and continued to have sex with naive 18 years old that were just coming out of the closet and didn't know about his reputation. No protection, nothing said about his status...word got around and I believe he finally stopped. He refused to take meds and passed away about five years ago. I didn't feel sorry for him at all, just like I have no pity for Gaetan. At least Gaetan was dead within a year so that he couldn't keep spreading it.
There’s no evidence of that.
@@Js2557ty The best evidence of Dugas' complicity in knowingly spreading the virus comes from the former Asst. Director of the San Francisco Health Department, Selma Dritz (look her up). After men started complaining about Dugas having sex in the bath houses after he knew he was sick, Dritz had a conversation with him. In this conversation, she told Dugas to quit having unprotected sex with people. Dritz stated that Dugas said "screw you lady" and walked out. Dritz had nothing to do with the book and did not know Randy Shilts.
Look up the piece on "60 Minutes" called "Patient Zero" from 1986 (I think). It is on TH-cam.
Most people have not even directly met 2000 people in a single lifetime, much less shagged them.
How is it possible to have such a insatiable sex drive or be physically capable of that much smash?
This dude literally took and gave kilometers of meat.
‘Found out he was positive’ Dugas died before we even knew it was caused by a virus. Infecting people with what exactly? The scientific evidence of it being sexual transmitted did not even exist, it literally was an educated guess by a homophobic medical establishment. Time and context matters. You’re perpetuating the garbage that has been debunked thoroughly as of 2024.
@@carlblaskowitz7817‘literally took and gave km of meat’ 💀
Unbelievable this was over 40 years ago; halfway back to 1942 and the world engulfed in war. A fascinating glimpse of a dark and urgent time as if the fear of a medieval plague.
Where can I find footage of the entire meeting of AIDS Vancouver at Westend Community Centre?
6:40 there you go
Geoff Mains is mentioned as moderator in the commentary, does he appear onscreen? Not having many photos of him I was unable to pick him out.
Are there any episodes of Vancouver Gayblevision News available on TH-cam? Can any be uploaded? Thx
I want to see the full unedited video
AIDS Vancouver is the only AIDS service organization worth its weight. Positive Living Society of BC has a bloated membership for funding purposes that cannot be justified. AIDS Vancouver provides a safe place and much needed services.
For 18 years I volunteered at God's Love We Deliver, New York City's premier AIDS/HIV-related charity. It remains more valuable than its weight in gold. Thank goodness for ALL such related charities. And thank God we've come a long way since the late 1970s and 1980s. I can assure you that many don 't remember when people, primarily gay, white, and male, were dying like flies, , week-in and week-out, and we had no medical answer accordingly. So, let's not sugarcoat from whence we came, and how we got here.
While it is true that many of the original AIDS victims in the United States were young gay men, AIDS doesn't just affect gay people. For example, subSaharan Africa has been ravaged by AIDS for decades, and there is no way that all of the individuals who've died in SubSaharan Africa were gay. Also, it must be remembered that since HIV the virus that causes AIDS has no way of distinguishing between a gay person and a heterosexual.
They're not trying to say that, they're just telling the story of HIV/AIDS in Vancouver. In the very early days of the epidemic that was very much an LGBT story.
Heather Sailes studys about transmission rates between straight hiv positive partners and non hiv positive parteners would indicate other wise but keep putting out misinformation
Yes, you folks don't like to be held accountable or stand alone, so you ALWAYS drag Africa into the equation. SAD & EVIL!!! This only affected other populous because gay men usually pretend to be normal and intermingle in the heterosexual community back then. It's clear how AIDS became a mainstream problem.
Female to male transmission is very rare amongst heterosexual couples, unless you have anal sex with an infected female. Women get it from bisexual men who also have sex with men. It is also illegal to be gay in Africa so most men do it behind closed doors. Africans also eat bushmeat which exposes them to many strains of SIV/HIV
Hi,
I can't thank you enough for this video. To see the birth of a beautiful effort against AIDS in it's starting years had been an eyeopener.
I am a student of history and need some unbiased information about Gaetan Dugas. for a project. Whatever I find in the net is a somewhat stilted view of Randy S. The Gaetan I saw here is so different!!! Can you please advise me as to where I can find information about him and his last days?
Thank you so much for this wonderful video
Mimi
Exactly how is what you saw here so different. I see a man, asking very pointed questions and attempting to put forth the idea that a hep vaccine caused the virus and skirting the issue that it is transmitted through sex. I am not sure why you need to rehabilitate this mans reputation but history has shown he was not patient zero but nothing can vindicate him of spreading the disease knowingly. You pointed to this post as a place to come to see a different side of Mr Dugas but it shows nothing of the sort.
I think I remember an interview when Randy Shilts spoke to the podcaster Making Gay History (he was a writer back then), Randy said the publishers of his book And the Band Played On really added embellishments to his book. Randy did say awful things about Dugas, which are unforgivable, but my point is that it was not just Shilts when it came to that book. I imagine there were homophobes in that publishing house that really wanted to ham up and demonise Dugas. Dugas had every right not to trust the CDC, the medical establishment had treated homosexuality like it was a mental illness, and there were gays who were even tortured in asylums. Why trust a system that has treated you like garbage. RIP Gaetan, you were not a bad person, you wanted to live ❤
Moving. Thank you. 'And the Band Played On' has so much to answer for.
Gaetan Dugas rambles on and on . I was trying to understand what he was saying. I understood a little. But some of his questions are incoherent.
+Allen Laurent - Maybe he was already suffering AIDS dementia.
Allen Laurent I don’t think English was his first language, he had a very strong French-Canadian accent.
I left in '83 after losing a few freinds from Portland. London was going to be my new home.
Portland made it legal to spread AIDS (on purpose)
10:28 "I've got gay cancer" lol
I can see why everyone wanted to do it with Dugas. Hottie
Gaetan is VERY cute, I have to say..
William Meister -sets eye appointment- I don't see it.
You wouldnt be saying that 3 years after sleeping with him
M60gunner1971 come out of the closet already