Generation AIDS - Airs June 5th + 12th

June 5th - Part One: Minnesota's HIV/AIDS Crisis (1981-1986) by Britt Aamodt
In July 1981, the New York Times published an article about a mysterious illness plaguing gay men in New York City. After reading the article, Bruce Brockway, a gay activist and publisher of the Twin Cities' first gay newspaper, turned to his partner and said, "I think I have that." That was AIDS and Bruce was right. Numbers-wise, Minnesota was never a hot zone of infection. But for the Minnesotans living with HIV/AIDS, the struggles were the same: to stay alive and to fight the homophobia that wanted to ignore an epidemic dismissed as a gay man's disease.

June 12th - Part Two: Minnesota's HIV/AIDS Crisis (1986-1996) by Britt Aamodt
Five years into the epidemic, people living with HIV/AIDS were still dying of it in increasing numbers and the President of the United States had yet to acknowledge the crisis in public. In Minneapolis, as in other cities, activists were now taking control of the conversation through organizations like ACT UP. Individuals did what they could to help people living with HIV/AIDS survive long enough for that hoped-for cure. These samaritans included a leather-clad anthropology professor with a knack for cooking and a young doctor with a big idea. But would there be a cure? The lives of David Bjork, Rene Valdes and Michael Reinbold depended on it. (Photo of Bruce Brockway by Alan Lessik) 

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