Promotional flyer, 1985; Ephemera Collection, GLBT Historical Society.
In the early years of the HIV epidemic, mandatory testing, contact tracing and quarantine were hot-button issues rife with implications for civil rights, particularly given that the disease targeted marginalized groups already struggling for equal protections under the law. As with COVID-19, politics often threatened to trump public health science, and while mandatory quarantine of AIDS patients had to be defeated at the ballot box in California in the 1980's, testing became a core prevention tool, and contact tracing also gained scientific support as an effective disease prevention methodology. How do these experiences translate to SARS CoV-2? What are the implications of testing, contact tracing and quarantine for civil rights and disease prevention? A panel of HIV-prevention workers, COVID-19 prevention specialists and community historians will tackle these questions and more.
Our “Fighting Back” series is an intergenerational discussion that brings together community leaders, experts, historians and activists to explore lessons from the past that might be useful in formulating “resistance” efforts today.
SPEAKERS
Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad is a Philadelphia-based organizer and writer. They are a cofounder of the Black & Brown Workers Coop, a Black-led queer organization focused on workers’ rights and displacement politics.
Terry Beswick (moderator) has served as executive director of the GLBT Historical Society since 2016. At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, he was a founding member of the local ACT UP and was the first national coordinator of ACT NOW, the national AIDS activist network. He advocated for HIV/AIDS research and treatment with Project Inform, the Human Rights Campaign and the White House Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. After the advent of effective treatments for HIV, Beswick worked as a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBTQ community publications. More recently, he spearheaded a successful campaign to save and renovate the Castro Country Club for the queer recovery community and co-founded the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District. He holds an MFA in playwriting from San Francisco State University. Beswick has been named a Community Grand Marshal for the 50th Anniversary San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Parade and Celebration in 2020.
Matt Coles, who hung out a shingle and practiced law in the Castro in 1978 and later headed the ACLU’s HIV Project, has worked on LGBTQ rights and HIV issues for most of his life. He is now a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.
Ernest Hopkins leads the San Francisco AIDS Foundation national policy and legislative activities at the federal administrative and congressional levels, seeking appropriate levels of resource and sound public health policies that promote the health and wellness of San Franciscans living with and at risk for HIV. Ernest marked 20 years at SFAF in 2017, having led federal policy and legislative activities since 1997. Prior to joining SFAF, Ernest was the director of health and treatment at the National Association for People with AIDS (NAPWA) in Washington, DC where he led clinical trial review and consultation at the inception of HIV.
Jon Jacobo is a longtime activist who has worked for racial justice and housing rights both in the community and at City Hall. Jon is the chair of the Latino Task Force COVID-19 committee, currently working on the COVID testing campaigns in the Mission and most recently in Bayview and Visitation Valley/Sunnydale.
Diane Jones is an HIV nurse and worked at San Francisco General Hospital from 1982 until her retirement in 2016. She currently works with the Getting to Zero Consortium and as a volunteer with the Latino Task Force COVID-19 committee.
Tim Wolfred is a lifelong community activist. He was executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation from 1985 to 1989. In 1980 he was the first openly gay person to be elected to the San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees, where he served four terms.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This event will take place online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join the Zoom webinar as an attendee. The event will also be livestreamed, and then archived, on our YouTube page at https://bit.ly/2UyGVbG.
ADMISSION
Free | Suggested donation of $5.00
Register online here: https://bit.ly/2WOASRt
The event is limited to 500 attendees.
JOIN THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks: www.glbthistory.org/memberships