Many of them literally did pave the way. While treatment teams in hospitals like yours in major cities around the country were working heroically, research lagged, often because government funding wasn't available. AIDS was not a public-health priority.

People living with HIV and AIDS took point. Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and Act Up focused on delivering direct services and pushing for more funding and research, respectively.

I worked for nearly a decade providing job training through an agency affiliated with GMHC. I spend much of the same decade volunteering with Act Up. Also, I belonged to an informal network of friends who visited (cooked, cleaned, and provided companionship) people living with AIDS who were very ill but not hospitalized or in hospice.

Because I was living in lower Manhattan, it often felt like the number of people who were dying was staggering, just too much to deal with.

On the other hand, the sense of empowerment rooted in an extraordinary coming together and self-advocacy mitigated some of the worst of the trauma.

Thanks very much for sharing your experiences, and giving the beginning of the crisis your storytelling perspective.