OurLegacyToday Spring2016
Legacy Community Health Services Board of Directors Beth Bruce Chairperson
Amanda Goodie Vice-Chairperson
Lauren Soliz Secretary
Glenn Bauguss Treasurer
Glenna Pierpont
At-Large / Executive Committee
Sehba Ali Beryl Basham Tony Bravo George Burch Dr. Abigail Caudle Victor Cordova, Jr. Cyndy Garza Roberts Bryan Hlavinka Alex Jessett Bethsheba Johnson Alton LaDay
Legacy Community Health Endowment Board of Directors Claire Cormier Thielke Chairperson
Tripp Carter
Vice-Chairperson
James A. Reeder, Jr. Secretary
Mike Holloman Treasurer Michael Alexander Joshua L. Espinedo Melanie Gray,
Board Member Emeritus
Bryan Hlavinka Melissa Mithoff,
Board Member Emeritus
Monsour Taghdisi,
Board Member Emeritus
Brent N. Whiteley
Legacy Partners with Rice University to Document the Personal Stories of Houston’s AIDS Epidemic The first person in Houston was diagnosed with what is now known as AIDS in 1981, shortly after the Montrose Clinic was incorporated as a non-profit to assist the gay community. In the 35 years since that grim milestone, that clinic has become Legacy Community Health, and the old fear of AIDS being an automatic death sentence is, for many, a distant memory. Preserving those memories is now the goal of a new initiative documenting the history of those tumultuous years in Houston and Southeast Texas. The Oral History (OH) project is bringing together first-person accounts of people directly affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic: the survivors, their friends and families, the medical professionals and volunteers on the front lines, and the activists who fought the government for funding, research, and acceptance. “Anybody who was part of the AIDS epidemic in the late 80s and 90s knew not to count on the government,” says Tori Williams, one of those early activists and co-founder of the OH project. ”We changed the bed linens in the public hospitals, we fed patients, and even made sure people wouldn’t die in their homes alone. We have to capture that time to remember, to honor those people who went before us and learn from it. This crucial period, and the epic struggle endured by those with AIDS, should not be lost to time.” Sarah Canby Jackson of the Harris County Archives had already been documenting the history of the county’s Ryan White Planning Council, which manages the federal funds earmarked for primary care services for underserved people with HIV. Both she and Tori recognized the opportunity to capture a broader history beyond a simple retelling of events. This important effort could become a everlasting part of the HIV/AIDS academia. “It wouldn’t do any good to have a project like this floating around, without any reputable support,” says Sarah. “It needs context; it needs a permanent home.” Lee Pecht, the Director of Special Collections at Rice University’s Woodson Research Center, added this missing cornerstone to the OH project by facilitating an agreement to house the collection there. “I’ve had many
Carmon Brian Keever displaying some of the memorabilia collected during his years of HIV and LGBT activism
friends who died from AIDS-related complications. The project is perfect for Rice.” With the addition of Legacy Community Health and the Montrose Center as founding partners, the OH project now has three volunteer interviewers collecting oral histories. The first person interviewed was Legacy employee and long-time LGBT activist Carmon Brian Keever. “In the early 80s there was still a cowboy mentality. You didn’t hold your boyfriend’s hand in public,” says Brian. “You’d even park your car several blocks away from the gay bars so the police didn’t know where you were going. People need to know how dangerous it was for gay people to simply live their lives just 30 years ago.” Brian became a familiar face in the gay community, working as a bartender and entertainer, and writing for This Week in Texas magazine. And then came the diagnosis in 1986. He had AIDS. Doctors told him he’d be dead by 1988. Brian wanted to make the time he had left count. Bri He protested when Louie Welch, campaigning against former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire, was overheard on an open TV microphone joking that one way to control AIDS was to “shoot the queers.” He marched in Washington and was arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court. He was a patient at the nation’s first AIDS hospital in Houston and participated in six HIV medication research trials. “We all had little pill boxes with beepers and every four hours the beeper would go off to remind
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