Part 1 of an in-depth article about AIDS activism in Vancouver, 30 years after the first patient there

Originally posted on Vancouver Sun

Heroes, Heartbreak & Hope: How AIDS made us better

The mysterious deaths of young gay men set off a wave of fear and loathing in Metro that took dedicated medical professionals and years of public education to curb.

FIRST OF TWO PARTS  By Denise Ryan

“There were people who displayed remarkable courage then. People who lived and died by their promises and shared the intimacy of death, and then the world moved forward and grief subsided and lives moved on. But make no mistake, there are heroes among us right now.”— Mark King

At five minutes after 4 a.m. on March 4, 1983, a tenant in the Park Terrace apartments in Vancouver’s West End noticed water dripping from a cupboard in his kitchen.

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