Imagine Hope: Aids and Gay Identity (Social Aspects of Aids Series)

295 Pages·2000·0.91 MB·English

by  Simon Watney

Imagine Hope
In this volume for the Social Aspects of AIDS series Watney presents a
chronological selection of his writings from the 1990s, with new
contextualizing introductory and concluding essays. Offering a chronicle of
the changing and often confusing course of the epidemic in its second decade
and the shifting responses to it, Imagine Hope is able to cast light on the
failings and achievements of the voluntary sector response to AIDS and the
obstacles faced by policy-makers. The author succeeds not only in bringing
together major debates about policy and its implementation on one hand
and about representation and cultural responses on the other, but in arguing
that the two must be regarded as inseparable. Questions explored include:

• How gay identity has been affected by AIDS
(cid:127) How gay men have responded to AIDS
(cid:127) How AIDS policies have been established and put into practice
(cid:127) What happened to AIDS in the 1990s

Written in plain English, using hands-on experience, Imagine Hope is essential
reading for anyone wanting to understand the implications of the epidemic
as it enters its third decade.
Simon Watney is a well-known writer and broadcaster, art critic, art historian
and Director of the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust.
Social Aspects of AIDS
Series Editor: Peter Aggleton
(Institute of Education, University of London)
AIDS is not simply a concern for scientists, doctors and medical researchers,
it has important social dimensions as well. These include individual, cultural
and media responses to the epidemic, stigmatization and discrimination,
counselling, care and health promotion. This series of books brings together
work from many disciplines including psychology, sociology, cultural and
media studies, anthropology, education and history. The titles will be of
interest to the general reader, those involved in education and social research,
and scientific researchers who want to examine the social aspects of AIDS.
Recent titles include:
Power and Community: Organizational and Cultural Responses to AIDS
Dennis Altman
Moral Threats and Dangerous Desires: AIDS in the New Media
Deborah Lupton
Last Served? Gendering the HIV Pandemic
Cindy Patton
Crossing Borders: Migration, Ethnicity and AIDS
Edited by Mary Haour-Knipe
Bisexualities and AIDS: International Perspectives
Edited by Peter Aggleton
Sexual Interactions and HIV Risk: New Conceptual Perspectives in European
Research
Edited by Luc Van Campenhoudt, Mitchell Cohen, Gustavo Guizzardi and
Dominique Hausser
AIDS: Activism and Alliances
Edited by Peter Aggleton, Peter Davies and Graham Hart
AIDS as a Gender Issue
Edited by Lorraine Sherr, Catherine Hankins and Lydia Bennett
Drug Injecting and HIV Infection: Global Dimensions and Local Responses
Edited by Gerry Stimson, Don C.Des Jarlais and Andrew Ball
Sexual Behaviour and HIV/AIDS in Europe: Comparisons of National Surveys
Edited by Michel Hubert, Nathalie Bajos and Theo Sandfort
Men Who Sell Sex: International Perspectives on Male Prostitution and AIDS
Edited by Peter Aggleton
The Dutch Response to HIV: Pragmatism and Consensus
Edited by Theo Sandfort
Dying to Care: Work, Stress and Burnout in HIV/AIDS Professionals
David Miller
AIDS in Europe: New Challenges for the Social Sciences
Edited by Jean-Paul Moatti, Yves Souteyrand, Annick Prieur,
Peter Aggleton and Theo Sandfort
Social Aspects of AIDS
Series Editor: Peter Aggleton Institute
of Education, University of London

Editorial Advisory Board

Dominic Abrams, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Dennis Altman, La Trobe University, Australia
Maxine Ankrah, Makerere University, Uganda
Mildred Blaxter, University of East Anglia, UK
Manuel Carballo, Geneva, Switzerland
Judith Cohen, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Anthony Coxon, University of Essex, UK
Peter Davies, London, UK
Gary Dowsett, La Trobe University, Australia
Jan Grover, St Paul, Minnesota, USA
Graham Hart, MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK
Mukesh Kapila, Department for International Development, UK
Hans Moerkerk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands
Cindy Patton, Temple University, USA
Diane Richardson, University of Newcastle, UK
Werasit Sittitrai, UNAIDS, Geneva, Switzerland
Ron Stall, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Robert Tielman, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Simon Watney, London, UK
Jeffrey Weeks, South Bank University, UK
Imagine Hope

AIDS and Gay Identity

Simon Watney

London and New York
First published 2000 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York,
NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor &
Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

© 2000 Simon Watney
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Watney, Simon.
Imagine hope: AIDS and gay identity/Simon Watney.
p. cm.—(Social aspects of AIDS.)
‘Published simultaneously in Canada.’
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. AIDS (Disease) 2. Gays-identity. I. Title.
II. Series.
RA644.A25 W376 2000 99–086533
362.1´969792´008664–dc21

ISBN 0-203-49544-6 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-80368-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 1-841-42058-1 (hbk)
ISBN 1-841-42057-3 (pbk)
For Edward King

Contents

Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: Epidemic! What epidemic? 1
1 Ordinary boys 27
2 Vito Russo: 1946–90 35
3 School’s out 37
4 Queer epistemology: activism, ‘outing’ and the
politics of sexual identities 50
5 Emergent sexual identities and HIV/AIDS 63
6 The killing fields of Europe 81
7 Charles Barber: 1956–92 87
8 Read my lips: AIDS, art & activism 89
9 How to have sax in an epidemic 106
10 Hard won credibility 109
11 Michael Callen: 1955–93 114
12 Dr Simon Mansfield: 1960–93 116
13 AIDS and the politics of queer diaspora 117
ix