 |
| In memory of my brother Chris, who died of AIDS age 58 in 2003 |
60 Minutes Rejected than Accepted AIDS Story
It was 25 years ago, February 1984, that 60 Minutes revealed the story of a New Haven prostitute and heroin addict whose baby was born with AIDS and never left Yale-New Haven Hospital, living his entire, nearly three year, life in quarantine.
At first 60 Minutes refused to do the story after coming to New Haven to discuss it because, they told me, it was not a microcosm of something univeral (the criterion for all their reports) since AIDS was transmitted exclusively by gay males.
Their producer, Harry Moses, returned to New York after our discussion and the matter was over, I thought.
Two weeks later he called me and said he had been checking around and discovered that in Africa 90% of the AIDS cases were transmitted heterosexually and that he would return to New Haven to film the story.
Recall that in 1984 HIV had not yet been discovered, so there was no test to determine one had AIDS. The only conclusive symptom was the collapse of the immune system in the final stage of the illness. Further, the disease had come to be taboo since it was associated primarily with gay males.
One Yale professor stood up in a public meeting, pointed his finger at me, and told the audience "'Shun this man' for bringing 60 Minutes to town to persecute* this woman."
He was afraid the attention would result in her being quarantined, and by later extension, the quarantine of all who had AIDS, especially gay men.
I disagreed.
In a state which had seen the Planned Parenthood victory, Grisowld v. Connecticut, I argued, there would be no persecution.
Indeed, once heterosexual transmission was known to be a possibility, the "gay disease" superstition would evaporate.
So it has.
Besides, how could I be silent when I knew my silence would send others to a horrible and at that time a certain death?
Officials at Yale-New Haven Hospital and others have criticized me for revealing confidential information.
So be it.
Paul D. Keane
M.Div. '80, M.A., M.Ed.
________________________________________________________________
 Miss Isabel Wilder |
In 1983, at a time when no one wanted to be associated in any way with AIDS which had the stigma of being a "gay disease," Miss Isabel Wilder,sister of author Thornton Wilder, quietly (and courageously) funded the brochure below.
"AIDS, SEX and YOU" ( title changed to "AIDS and the Yale Student" for campus distribution) created by Yale professor of biology Dr. Alvin Novick and myself, for our start-up New Haven group called AIDS Information Dissemination Service was distributed to Yale undergraduate students after I persuaded Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti to overrule his timid Health Service which had refused to do circulate it.
Miss Wilder read the pamphlet from cover to cover (she did not ask to edit it in any way) and I was surprised that she did not blink an eyelash at the coarse, graphic language. She understood the urgency of responding with information to a fatal disease with no cure and no biologically identifiable cause (1983: HIV had not been discovered).
I agreed not to publicly reveal Miss Wilder's crucial financial role in this matter during her lifetime.
She died in 1995 at age 95.
|
_________________________________
AP NEWS
Controversial Possible AIDS Victim Dies
Controversial Possible AIDS Victim Dies
NEW
HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ Carlotta Locklear, a convicted prostitute whose possible
affliction with the blood disease AIDS stirred controversy a year ago, has died
at Yale-New Haven Hospital, officials said.
Hospital
spokesman George Pawlush said Ms. Locklear apparently died Monday night of
cardiac arrest. But he said an autopsy would have to be performed to determine
whether AIDS, or acquired immune difficiency syndrome, contributed to the
29-year-old New Haven
Pawlush
said Ms. Locklear was brought to the hospital early Monday evening and died at
about 7:35 p.m.
Ms.
Locklear was arrested in February 1984 on disorderly conduct and drug- related
charges. At the time, police said she was suspected of having the blood
disease.
The
case drew national attention when Ms Locklear was released pending her court
appearance and later escaped from a drug-rehabilitation center.
Authorities
said they were concerned that, because Ms. Locklear had a history of
prostitution and was suspected of having AIDS, she might spread the
communicable blood disease.
In
March, the director of immunology at Yale-New Haven, Dr. John Dwyer, said Ms.
Locklear had symptoms of an AIDS-related complex that is believed to be an
early symptom of the disease. He also said that Ms. Locklear’s baby, who was 16
months old at the time, suffered from an advanced case of AIDS.
But
Ms. Locklear’s attorney, John Williams, insisted that she did not have the
disease.
AIDS,
or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is marked by the inability of the
body’s immune system to resist disease.
Homosexuals,
Haitians, abusers of injectable drugs and hemophiliacs are most likely to get
AIDS. It is apparently spread by sexual contact, contaminated needles and blood
transfusions, not by casual contact.
As
of Dec. 24, 1984, AIDS had struck 7,594 people and claimed 3,627 lives since
1979 in the United States ,
according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta
ATTENTION:
Move bar to 4 minutes 41 seconds to begin this 1984 60 Minutes video story "Helen"
(Move bar to 4 minutes 41 seconds.)
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/22/Suspected-AIDS-victim-seen-on-street/5389446274000/
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/22/Police-search-for-runaway-AIDS-victim/5046446274000/
PROSTITUTE BELIEVED TO HAVE AIDS SURRENDERS, IS JAILED *The Miami Herald - Feb 28, 1984
Escapee Gives Up*
nytimes.com - Feb 28, 1984
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/28/nyregion/the-region-escapee-gives-up.html
*It is worth noting here that when this woman was arrested after it was revealed that she had AIDS, I arranged for the best Civil Liberties lawyer in Connecticut, John Williams, to be her attorney at no cost to her. It is further worth noting, that I refused to cooperate with 60 Minutes unless they agreed not to use this woman's real name. "Helen" is the pseudonym they agreed on.
RELATED
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19840222&id=kS0gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xekDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5673,2522996
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19640221&id=NhFQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TlYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4907,5090822
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19850115&id=VSZJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZQYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1374,1921830
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19850115&id=VSZJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZQYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1374,1921830
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19850506&id=6xJJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ugUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6854,829217
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
