1992
Hope in the AIDS Community grows in 1992 with the upcoming
election. Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton supports gay rights and
announces he will appoint an AIDS Czar to find a cure, if elected. That year,
PWAs Bob Hattoy and Elizabeth Glaser speak at the Democratic National
Convention.
NMAC releases The Impact of HIV in Communities of Color: A
Blueprint for the Nineties and conducts a Congressional briefing on the report
for representatives from both the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, solidifying its leadership on issues of HIV/AIDS in
communities of color on Capitol Hill.
NMAC holds the National Skills Building Conference
again bringing together over 1,000 attendees.
Sadly, 1992 marks the passing of Craig Harris, one of
NMAC's founders. He dies of AIDS, leaving behind an incredible body of writing and
work in the field of HIV/AIDS. In addition to leadership with the agency,
Harris worked at GMHC and helped organize the first federally funded national AIDS in the Black Community Conference in Washington, D.C.
Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Inc. is founded; its red AIDS ribbon quickly
becoming a symbol for the entire epidemic.
The FDA initiates "accelerated approval" or interim
licensing to get PWAs promising drugs faster. Clinical trials on multiple drugs
also were held.
Congress funds the AIDS Housing Opportunities Act (AHOA).
The International AIDS Conference changes its venue from Boston, MA to Amsterdam, Holland
at the last minute, and focuses on research around HIV negative
people who exhibit AIDS-like
symptoms.
NMAC launches several
successful campaigns raising awareness about pediatric AIDS.
Despite the feeling of hope, AIDS still took its toll in the
United States,
with 79,657 new diagnoses, and 41,849 deaths, including those of Robert Reed,
of The Brady Bunch, and Anthony Perkins (right), of Pyscho fame. Perkins learned of his
AIDS diagnosis from The National Inquirer; the tabloid had acquired the
information from a lab assistant who had tested Perkins without the actor's
knowledge. Alison L. Gertz, who shared her AIDS diagnosis with the media in
1989 to raise awareness about HIV risk among heterosexual women, also
dies.