Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface
As I developed my proposal for this research project nearly a decadeago,I sought a way to challenge the contention that I could not beboth an activist and a sociologist. At Northwestern University, Ifaced constant pressure to be one or the other.Whereas initial draftsleaned toward the academic side of the fence, I have tried to makethis book more accessible to nonsociologists. At the same time, Ihope it presents an analysis useful to sociologists and other academ-ics studying social movements.
My research grew out of a sense of urgency regarding the AIDScrisis. As a graduate student in the early 1990s, I found myself look-ing week after week at the obituaries in the Windy City Times andother gay and lesbian newspapers in Chicago and around the countryand seeing fartoo many of my gay brothers and sisters dying ofAIDS.At the same time,other oppressed groups, including injectiondrug users,poor people,and people of color, were dying of AIDS,andtheir deaths often went unacknowledged.These often overlappingcommunities witnessed genocidal neglect amid massive deaththroughout the 1980s, the first decade of the AIDS crisis. It waswithin this context that I began this book.
I joined ACT UP/Chicago (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power,Chicago) in the fall of 1992, and on December 1,1992-World AIDSDay-I eagerly participated in a sit-in at the State of Illinois Build-
xPreface
ing to protest the state's inadequate response to the AIDS crisis. Soown activism,which until that point had been concentrated in anti-tive" when researching social phenomena-as if one could (ortality,or environmental injustice.To attempt to be "objective,"to notget involved,always seemed to me not only unconscionable in amoral sense but also less intellectually fulfilling. In ACTUP/Chicago,especially in the Prison Issues Committee, I found notonly wonderfully compassionate and courageous comrades,but peo-ple whose political analyses came from their experiences as activistsmore so than from any academic degrees they might have. I learneda great deal from them and from the prisoners we worked with,peo-ple who, in contrastto common stereotypes, were caring andthoughtful as they lived with and struggled against HIV/AIDS behindthe prison walls.Such involvement provided insight that would havebeen inaccessibleto a bystander pretending to be objective.
The research phase took about two years.After conducting inter-views with AIDS activists in Los Angeles,Chicago,and New York,I continued my work with ACT UP/Chicago and began writing.Itwas during this time that I was infected and diagnosed with HIV my-self.Amid the drama of betrayal, self-blame, depression,and fear,Irecognized on a gut level that we had been doing the right thing by"ACTing UP" in the streets,by being out and queer,and by chal-lenging the criminal justice system and other oppressive istitutionsand systems that fuel the AIDS crisis. With the support of family,friends,and comrades, I completed my doctorate in 1996.
During the years since I finished graduate school,I have con-stantly been reminded of the growing immensity of the AIDS crisis-as I deal with my own experiences living as an "out" gay man withHIV,as I worked at the Services for HIV Prevention,Education,Care,Treatment,and Reserch for Underserved Minorities (SPEC-TRUM) mental health clinic in South Central Los Angeles, and as Ilearned about the continued catastrophic effect of AIDS throughoutthe world,particularly in Africa. I also came to realize that in morethan one way,I owe my life to AIDS activism, in particular to thosewho struggled before I joined ACT UP, many of whom died fightingas sociological research on a small but significant part of AIDS ac-tivism in the United States.
The AIDS crisis is a complex and tragic international social
injustice.to
You sent
problem.In turn, individual and collective responses to HIV/AIDShave been widespread and have varied greatly. This book is in noway a comprehensive treatment of the AIDS crisis and AIDS activism.What I have attempted to do is describe and analyze several collec-tive efforts targeting AIDS in Los Angeles,Chicago,and New York.These efforts provide insight into challenging AIDS in multiply mar-ginalized populations such as gay and bisexual men of color and pris-oners.Such examples are particularly relevant, given the decimationcaused by HIV/AIDS in these and other oppressed communities inthe United States,as well as in less industrialized nations,particu-larly the third world.My hope is that this analysis will contribute tocurrent efforts to understand and combat the epidemic.
I also hope that my book will encourage students and scholars ofsocial movements, as well as activists, to think critically about howmultiple oppressions impact activism.Still today,there are academ-ics and activists who insist on looking at or responding to one formof inequality in isolation-as if that particular inequality were theonly one that exists.In other cases,some have prioritized the fightagainst one "ism"above others.My activism and my research indi-cate that such an approach inevitably ignores entire segments ofcommunities affected by AIDS and promotes alienation and conflictwithin these communities.For example,mainstream AIDS activismhas often failed to consider the deadly impact of HIV/AIDS on pris-oners-reflecting a failure to think critically about race,class,and in-carceration within the context of AIDS.Here,I am not arguing thatevery social-movement organization should try to tackle every issueand cause or attempt to mobilize every community.I am not advo-cating a “laundry list" approach.Activist organizations (and researchprojects) should have focus.However,we must be aware of the com-plex web of issues and inequities that connect each "focus.”We mustbe attentive to what "else" is going on outside our particular areas ofaction because communities intersect and issues interlock. If we diga bit deeper, we see that seemingly separate social problems arerooted in the same apparatus of injustice and exploitation. For ac-tivists,coalition building is crucial to this effort. Coalitions that pro-mote inclusivity and mindfulness of the interconnectedness of differ-ent oppressions are essential. As a whole,the interviews for this book,as well as my participant observation in ACT UP,demonstrate thatcollective struggles against all forms of oppression are essenial ineradicating the AIDS crisis and ultimately creating a more just andhumane world.