Bob Hattoy, someone you should know

The Human Rights Campaign was able to find AIDS activist (and gay activist) Bob Hattoy's 1992 speech to the Democratic National Convention, and sent it around to a number of us. Bob died this past week. He was the first person with AIDS to openly address any political convention. Bob was also a friend of Bill Clinton, and a friend of mine - he helped me a lot on a number of issues.

But just as important and moving as Bob's speech was for so many of us at the time, it's important to remember that this was 1992. We'd just finished 8 years of Ronald Reagan ignoring AIDS, and 4 years of George Bush, Sr. not doing a hell of a lot more. This was the year that the Republican party launched their culture war against gays and lesbians and so many other Americans. Bob's speech is important for what it signified - finally the public embrace of a person with AIDS (and an openly gay one at that) by one of the political parties, but also it was a huge thing for the Democrats to have done in 1992 when things weren't so great for us. Shortly after Bob's speech, the Republicans felt forced to follow suit and had Mary Ficher, who also has AIDS, speak to their convention. While the Democrats highlighted a gay man with AIDS, the GOP highlighted a woman who got it through her gay husband. Enough said. (Mary has gone on to be a tireless advocate for all people with AIDS, but still, it's interesting to note how the GOP tried to use her disease to bash gays.) Kudos to HRC for posting this on YouTube.