Today is World AIDS Day.
I keep a list of 75 queer icons going back to Walt Whitman and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs; here are the 24 folks from that list who died in the 1980s and 1990s.
By my count, at least 13 of the folks here died of AIDS. It’s impossible for me to look at the age at which they died and not feel overwhelming sadness.
Rob 🏳️🌈 Rartsy Humanist
in reply to chill bill (pliny the colder) • • •thank you for this. I'd love to see your whole list.
My godfather died of AIDS in the mid 90s. He is the only elder in my extended family whom I miss. He was honest and funny and cut through all of my family's formal phony bullshit. I was in my early 20s, and not out. He was in his mid 50s. Miss you, Kenneth.
#worldAIDSday
chill bill (pliny the colder)
in reply to Rob 🏳️🌈 Rartsy Humanist • • •@RMiddleton Thanks for sharing this memory of your godfather Kenneth.
If you search mastodon for “queer ancestors calendar” you’ll see a bunch of my posts over the last year or so of folks from my list. I haven’t published the whole thing yet — not sure what format it will end up being.