Out Front Colorado: The 1980s - HIV/AIDS
The beginning of the AIDS epidemic was marked by minor mentions – national news blurbs that seemed to have nothing to do with life in Colorado. But as the crisis escalated, so did Out Front’s coverage, reflecting the gradual but relentless takeover of Colorado’s gay community.
July 24, 1981: The earliest apparent reference to what would later be known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a small national news blurb in this issue, headlined “Unique Pneumonia Strikes Gay Men.” The story goes on to explain that “there has been a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia among gay males in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities in the last few months. It has taken the lives of several gay men in Los Angeles. … Officials confess their ignorance about what may be the cause of the outbreaks and speculate that it has something to do with the gay lifestyle.”
October 16, 1981: The second reference to AIDS appears when another national news blurb announces “Center for Disease Control to Investigate Homosexual Sarcoma Cases.” But more local concerns had the community’s attention – a popular Boulder minister had just come out and the church was in an uproar; the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Colorado was celebrating its fifth anniversary; and the holidays were on the way.
January 8, 1982: Staff writer Phil Nash discusses concerns about hepatitis, giardiasis, and the increasing occurrence of Kaposi’s sarcoma and pneumocystis carinii, the rare form of pneumonia referred to earlier, among gay men. But there is still Jerry Falwell to contend with on a national level, as he declares that Washington, D.C. “is becoming the Gay Capital of America,” and locally, the Colorado Department of Health has stopped providing free STD screenings for gay men through the Gay & Lesbian Center of Colorado. The film Making Love, the controversial Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson and Harry Hamlin film, about a married gay man’s emergence from the closet, fills the pages with ads and reviews.
May 14, 1982: The unnamed “gay disease,” now unofficially called “gay compromise syndrome,” continues to appear in national news blurbs, but there is no indication that it has arrived in Colorado. Safe Week II, scheduled during Gay Pride Week, focuses on venereal diseases.
June 25, 1982: there is a name attached to the rare cancer and pneumonia that has been periodically reported, and staff writer Phil Nash profiles a San Francisco activist who is dying of Kaposi’s sarcoma.
August 20, 1982: The Gay and Lesbian Health Care Alliance in Denver has formed specifically in response to the potential problems that AIDS may pose in Denver and the surrounding regions. No one is quite sure yet what those problems might be. But by the September 17, 1982 issue, local bars are starting to hold AIDS benefits.
November 12, 1982: Two cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma have been diagnosed in Denver, along with two other confirmed cases of AIDS in Colorado. Gay men are told what to watch for, the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Colorado (GLCCC) establishes a rumor control system and a weekly support group, and community organizations are ramping up fundraising shows. “For several months, community leaders have anticipated the possibility that A.I.D.S. patients would be detected in Denver,” the article says. By January 21, 1983, the number of confirmed Colorado cases is seven. From this point on, there is either a local or national mention in almost every issue.
July 22, 1983: First mention of AIDS on an OFC cover: “Jerry Falwell: AIDS Problem Fueling Lies, Psychological Terror from the New Right” National AIDS toll reported: 1,641
August 5, 1983: 23 diagnosed in Colorado, Denver’s rate of infection exceeds the national rate, more than doubling every six months. Colorado AIDS toll: 23 cases, 5 deaths, 50-60 cases expected by end of 1984.
December 23, 1983: Colorado AIDS toll: 31 cases, 10 deaths
January 6, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 31 cases, 12 deaths
February 17, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 31 cases, 13 deaths
May 11, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 41 cases, 17 deaths
August 31, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 57 case, 30 deaths, deaths 30. A new focus on prevention emerges in the pages of Out Front.
September 14, 1984: The following notice appears: “Colorado’s first diagnosed case of AIDS occurred in 1982, with a total of 7 persons that year. None of them are alive today. Of 24 cases reported in 1983, 13 persons have died, and of the 26 cases reported so far this year, 10 are dead. The person who has lived the longest with AIDS in Colorado is a person who was diagnosed in March 1983.”
November 21, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 67 cases, 42 deaths
December 21, 1984: Colorado AIDS toll: 69 cases, 43 deaths
January 4, 1985: Colorado AIDS toll: 69 case, 45 deaths. National AIDS toll: 7,270 cases, 3,275 deaths
December 2, 1988: Denver’s newly formed ACT-UP group is introduced to readers as “The Bad Boys of the AIDS Business.”
January 27, 1989: Five days after ignoring pressure from ACT-UP and refusing to address AIDS in his State of the State address on January 12, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer quietly issues an executive order banning discrimination against those who are living with HIV.
Feb 10, 1989: Colorado AIDS toll: 874 cases, 510 deceased
AIDS reporting and obituaries continue into the 1990s and beyond.
July 28, 1993: White lettering against a stark black background on the cover of Out Front:
Philip Lee Price Founder and Publisher of Out Front October 5, 1954 – July 18, 1993
After reporting on the epidemic for over a decade, Phil Price is lost to AIDS-related illness – but his legacy lives on. <comments />
