Sunday, December 1 was World AIDS Day. For those of us who lived through the years when the epidemic was at its height, 1981 to 1995, the horror, fear, anger, and grief will never go away. One estimate suggests that ten percent of the cohort of gay men in Massachusetts born between 1915 and 1975 died from the disease. Many segments of the community experienced much higher death rates.

Every one of these deaths was a tragedy, every person left behind friends and loved ones, and every one of those who passed away from AIDS represents a loss to our community. We will always miss them.

As the epidemic raged, Robert John Quinn collected obituaries of gay men and others who died of AIDS and other causes (many of the obituaries do not specify the cause of death or whether the person was a member of the LGBTQ community). With the support of Mass Humanities, The History Project has digitized this collection. The online obituaries can be found at this website. 

We include here one of the obituaries in the collection. Eduardo Paez-Carrillo moved to the United States from Venezuela. He was very involved in Villa Victoria, the Puerto Rican-run housing development in the South End as well as a dedicated political activist. His life represents the diversity of our community.

The AIDS epidemic is far from over. Despite drugs to control the AIDS virus so that those people living with AIDS are no longer infectious and protocols to protect people who are virus free, many people remain at high risk. Reflecting the inequities of our society, the trans community and LGBTQ people of color are particularly at risk of infection. Many face daunting barriers to accessing medical care. 

Our struggle continues.