There is a generation of gay activists who transformed modern medicine, and almost nobody knows it.
In 1981, when Aids emerged with no name and no treatment, governments hesitated, and many families rejected their sons. A generation of gay people watched their friends die in numbers that should have created a national emergency. In many countries, it produced silence. What those men did in response to that silence is one of the least-acknowledged stories in modern medicine. They built much of the healthcare infrastructure the world now takes for granted.
