People With AIDS

The People With AIDS (PWA) Self-Empowerment Movement is a social movement by those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS which grew out of San Francisco in the early 1980s. The PWA Self-Empowerment Movement believes that those diagnosed as having AIDS should "take charge of their own life, illness, and care, and to minimize dependence on others". The attitude that exists throughout the movement is that one should not assume that their life is over and will end soon solely because they have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Although most of the earliest organizers have died, and organizations dissolved or reconfigured into AIDS service organizations (ASOs) the self-empowerment and self-determination aspects of the movement continue. Possibly the best known example of a continuing PWA group is AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT-UP), which has chapters around the world and has had great success bringing attention to and change regarding issues concerning PWAs.

PWA is also used simply to mean "person with HIV/AIDS", regardless of whether that person is associated with the PWA Self-Empowerment Movement.

Bobbi Campbell was a gay San Francisco man who was diagnosed with AIDS in September 1981, making him one of the first people in the US to be diagnosed with AIDS. On the recommendation of Marcus Conant, a doctor specializing in AIDS care, Bobbi began meeting with another man diagnosed with HIV, Dan Turner. The two met at Turner’s house in the Castro. There, they laid the groundwork for what was to become known as People with AIDS San Francisco. After that, Turner was invited to speak at the birthday party of the late Harvey Milk, the openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco who had been assassinated in 1978. On Castro street, Turner, as well as Campbell, identified themselves publicly as having AIDS. Turner’s speech urged people to do three things: keep informed, be cautious but not paranoid, and be supportive. This was the first of many speaking events for Campbell and Turner.

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