This commemorative program which I edited was distributed at the dedication of Bailey-Boushay House in January, 1992 In the late 80’s and early 90’s I was nearly paralyzed with grief, as friends and acquaintances were falling left and right to the plague – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
One thing I could do about it: say yes when Betsy Lieberman asked me to join the board of AIDS Housing of Washington, an organization created to build the country’s first AIDS hospice designed specifically for people with AIDS. (That organization is now called Building Changes, with a mission of eradicating homelessness in Washington State.)
What resulted was Bailey-Boushay House, a 35-bed residential care facility in Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood which also runs an Adult Day Health program that serves, among others, many homeless people with AIDS.
On Saturday, December 1 (World AIDS Day), Bailey-Boushay House (the building) was turned over to the Virginia Mason Medical Center, the pioneering health care organization which has administered the hospice for 15 years and will continue to operate (and now own) it. The handoff happened at a joyous celebration at Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, where a new documentary on the history of Bailey-Boushay was screened. Over 150 people showed up, even though it was snowing.
The reason: we’re all passionate about Bailey-Boushay, and we remember with great emotion people who’ve died there, people who’ve created art and music there, people who continue to thrive there. And we remember our struggles: how difficult it was to raise money, to change laws, to overcome neighborhood opposition to the hospice when it was in development between 1988 and 1991.
In the film, I recount one action by some Radical Faeries: when locals complained that an AIDS hospice might result in “overt homosexual behavior” in the neighborhood, we held a “terrorist shopping spree” where we dressed up in outrageous clothes and – as an example of “overt homosexual behavior” -- went shopping!
We think we diffused some of the negative opinions with humor.
I’m very proud of Bailey-Boushay (the first building I know of in the U.S. named after a gay couple) – and am delighted that Virginia Mason will continue the high level of care and compassion the community has come to expect there.
But I’m also concerned that the AIDS time bomb is still ticking – most obviously in Africa, but all over the world. Dr. Robert Wood of the Seattle/King County Health Department told me that infection rates are still high in the U.S. He estimates, for example, that 40% of gay men now alive will contract the virus if current rates continue.
Yikes!
One thing I could do about it: say yes when Betsy Lieberman asked me to join the board of AIDS Housing of Washington, an organization created to build the country’s first AIDS hospice designed specifically for people with AIDS. (That organization is now called Building Changes, with a mission of eradicating homelessness in Washington State.)
What resulted was Bailey-Boushay House, a 35-bed residential care facility in Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood which also runs an Adult Day Health program that serves, among others, many homeless people with AIDS.
On Saturday, December 1 (World AIDS Day), Bailey-Boushay House (the building) was turned over to the Virginia Mason Medical Center, the pioneering health care organization which has administered the hospice for 15 years and will continue to operate (and now own) it. The handoff happened at a joyous celebration at Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, where a new documentary on the history of Bailey-Boushay was screened. Over 150 people showed up, even though it was snowing.
The reason: we’re all passionate about Bailey-Boushay, and we remember with great emotion people who’ve died there, people who’ve created art and music there, people who continue to thrive there. And we remember our struggles: how difficult it was to raise money, to change laws, to overcome neighborhood opposition to the hospice when it was in development between 1988 and 1991.
In the film, I recount one action by some Radical Faeries: when locals complained that an AIDS hospice might result in “overt homosexual behavior” in the neighborhood, we held a “terrorist shopping spree” where we dressed up in outrageous clothes and – as an example of “overt homosexual behavior” -- went shopping!
We think we diffused some of the negative opinions with humor.
I’m very proud of Bailey-Boushay (the first building I know of in the U.S. named after a gay couple) – and am delighted that Virginia Mason will continue the high level of care and compassion the community has come to expect there.
But I’m also concerned that the AIDS time bomb is still ticking – most obviously in Africa, but all over the world. Dr. Robert Wood of the Seattle/King County Health Department told me that infection rates are still high in the U.S. He estimates, for example, that 40% of gay men now alive will contract the virus if current rates continue.
Yikes!
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