The Grady Infectious Disease Clinic opened in 1993 at its new site on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta. The clinic was championed by multiple protests by activists who fought delays including complaints from nearby businesses.
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Jun 02, 2006  | COMMENTS |   |  

Note: Atlanta events are marked in bold.

1981

• Doctors in New York and California begin to notice immune system disorders in otherwise healthy young gay men.

• On June 5, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports the first case of the illness that will come to be called AIDS.

• Number of known AIDS deaths in United States during 1981: 234.

• Georgia Department of Human Resources begins tracking AIDS cases in the state. Three are reported.

1982

• The CDC links the new disease to blood. The name Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) is replaced with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Disease linked to four risk factors: male homosexuality, intravenous drug use, Haitian origin and Hemophilia A.

• Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first community AIDS service provider in the U.S., established in New York City.

• First AIDS case reported in Africa.

• AID Atlanta, a social service organization for people with AIDS, begins.

1983

• The CDC warns blood banks of the risk of infection through transfusion; the first AIDS discrimination trial is held in the U.S.

• People living with AIDS, as they want to be called instead of “AIDS sufferers” or “AIDS victims,” take over plenary stage at U.S. conference and issue statement on the rights of PWAs referred to as The Denver Principles.

• National Association of People with AIDS formed.

• A “Stop AIDS” banner is carried in the Atlanta Pride march for the first time.

Rock Hudson

1984

• Virus isolated by Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute and Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute determined to be cause of AIDS; later named the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

• The Secretary of Health & Human Services announces that “a vaccine will be ready for testing within two years.”

• San Francisco officials order gay bathhouses shut down; major public controversies over bathhouses rage in New York and other cities.

1985

• First International AIDS Conference held in Atlanta.

• Rock Hudson announces he has AIDS.

• Ryan White, 14, is barred from attending public school in Indiana because of being HIV-positive.

• First HIV test licensed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

• The first community memorial for those who died of AIDS is held in conjunction with the Atlanta Pride festival.

1986

• President Ronald Reagan uses the word “AIDS” in public for the first time.

• Surgeon General C. Everett Koop calls for AIDS education of children of all ages and for widespread use of condoms.

• Ricky Ray, a nine-year-old hemophiliac with HIV, is barred from Florida school and his family’s home is burned by arsonists in the following year. Ray died in 1991.

• Fifth anniversary of AIDS. Cumulative known deaths: 16,301.

• Georgia State University professor Roger Bakeman, along with others at Morehouse, release a paper showing that AIDS is having a disproportionate impact on African Americans.

• AIDS Survival Project is formed in Atlanta based on the Denver Principles and offers client services as well as advocacy for those with HIV/AIDS.

1987

• ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — founded after a speech by Larry Kramer at the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center in New York.

• Zidovudine (AZT) is approved to fight AIDS itself.

• U.S. adds HIV as a “dangerous contagious disease” to its immigration exclusion list.

• Pianist and performer Liberace dies of AIDS.

• AIDS Memorial Quilt founded.

1988

• First World AIDS Day held on Dec. 1.

• ACT UP members demonstrate at FDA offices in Washington, D.C., over slow process for drug approval.

• The Atlanta chapter of ACT-UP forms after the Democratic Party holds its presidential convention in Atlanta.

• Project Open Hand forms to deliver nutritious meals to people with AIDS in Atlanta.

• The AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta forms.

1989

• CDC issues guidelines for preventing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a major cause of death for people with AIDS.

• Choreographer Alvin Ailey dies of AIDS.

• Gay artist Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS.

• SisterLove Inc. opens its doors in Atlanta to offer resources, especially to women, about AIDS prevention, self-help and safer sex techniques.

1990

• Ryan White dies from AIDS at age 18. The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS ...