By Joseph Jones
The AIDS crisis took a devastating physical and emotional toll on the queer community, cutting short the lives of many brilliant, talented, and creative individuals who made tremendous contributions to society. Keith Haring, Jean Basquiat, Rock Hudson, Freddie Mercury, and Anthony Perkins all lost in their battle against AIDS, and their legacies have a left a void that no one has ever been able to fill since. One individual in particular should not be forgotten for his contributions to the anti-AIDS movement and his efforts to help advance the rights of the LGBTQ community, and his name is Randy Shilts.
Randy Shilts was an openly gay journalist, who despite graduating near the top of his class in 1975 from the University of Oregon, struggled to find his job due to the homophobic culture of newspapers and television stations at the time. Shilt’s floated around as a freelance journalist for a bit before doing a brief stint at The Advocate, the world’s longest running LGBTQ magazine. Finally, Shilt’s was offered a position as a correspondent at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he became the first, and at that time, the only openly gay journalist in American press to cover LGBTQ issues and stories.
Besides his work as a Journalist, Shilt’s also published three books: The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, a biography of the openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, and his final book, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. Before his death on February 17th, 1994 from AIDS complications, Shilts had plans for a fourth and final book which would explore homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church.
During his time as a reporter, he was one of the first journalist’s to recognize the growing threat of the AIDS virus and it’s detrimental impact it was having on the gay community. Shilt’s was quoted in a newspaper article as to why he was so passionate about covering the story of “the gay plague”.
"Any good reporter could have done this story, but I think the reason I did it, and no one else did, is because I am gay. It was happening to people I cared about and loved."
While one may think that Shilt’s would have been revered for his efforts to alert the LGBTQ community and society to the danger that AIDS poses and his work would be celebrated, Shilt’s became a controversial public figure who attracted a great deal of criticism and resentment, mainly by the gay community he was trying to help. One particular issue which earned him the ire of his gay brother’s was Shilt’s favoring of closing the bathhouses during the early days of the AIDS epidemic to limit the spread of the virus. Some viewed him as a hypocrite, an Uncle Tom, and a traitor to the Gay Liberation movement. Gays had fought so hard for visibility and to create queer spaces free of persecution, and Shilt’s wanted a symbol of their sexual freedom and liberation to be closed down. He was also vehemently against outing closeted public figures, unless they supported anti-gay policies. This also made him public enemy number one by some homosexuals.
Despite his unfavorable standing in the gay community, Shilt’s left behind a legacy of incredible work and was one of the first members of the press to cover and document the AIDS crisis in America. He was a brilliant, talented, and dedicated journalist who wanted the lives of queer people to be told through his stories. He recognized the threat of the AIDS virus and . sought to call attention to the issue, as well as the negligence and incompetence of an apathetic government and medical establishment. Without Shilt’s, we may not have such a detailed and rich historical account of AIDS crisis, as well as LGBT life and history. Shilt’s should be remembered for being a chronicler of time in history that without him, could have been lost to the sands of time. He also represents a generation of gay man and queer people that are no longer with us and their contributions to the world have been cut tragically short. Not only is Shilt’s an example of the spirit of queerness, but also what a good journalist should strive to be, that is someone who fights for the truth, questions the will of the government and powers that be, and stands up for justice and equality.