Draft:No Obits

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No obits
AuthorTimothy Rodrigues
SubjectHIV/AIDS in the United States
PublisherBay Area Reporter
Publication dateAugust 13, 1998
Media typeNewspaper article
Pages2

"No obits" was the headlining article of the August 13, 1998 issue of the Bay Area Reporter, the LGBT newspaper serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It marked the first time in 17 years that no obituaries appeared in the paper for deaths due to HIV/AIDS.

"No obits" represented a time of transition in the history of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Advances in HIV/AIDS therapies in the late 1990s decisively reduced the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS in San Francisco and worldwide.

[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Background

HIV/AIDS crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area

Bay Area Reporter

The Bay Area Reporter was founded in 1971 to serve the San Francisco LGBTQ community. As the AIDS pandemic progressed throughout the 1980s, the Bay Area Reporter provided extensive coverage, including an obituary section

Article

Analysis

Legacy

In 2018, Timothy Rodrigues, the author of the article, commented that "I'm not sure I would have been able to say I would be around on its 20th anniversary." Rodrigues criticized the first Trump administration's recent actions towards the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and reflected on the continuing uncertainty in his experiences.[7]

Physician and HIV scholar Monica Gandhi drew a comparison between the "No obits" headline and the day of April 2, 2024, the first day since March 2020 without any COVID-19 deaths in California.[8]

References

  1. Brooks, Jon (2011-04-08). "Interview: Bay Area Reporter Publisher on Early Days Covering Gay Rights and AIDS Epidemic". KQED. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  2. Curtius, Mary (1998-08-15). "S.F. Paper's Brief Headline Signals a Moment to Rejoice". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  3. "Stories of Our Movement: The Bay Area Reporter at 50". GLBT Historical Society.
  4. Baker, Mel (2021-04-12). "The First Draft of 50 Years of LGBTQ History". San Francisco Public Press. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  5. Dilley, J. W.; Woods, W. J.; Sabatino, J.; Rinaldi, J.; Lihatsh, T.; Mcfarland, W. (2003). "Availability of combination therapy for HIV: Effects on sexual risk taking in a sample of high-risk gay and bisexual men". AIDS Care. 15 (1): 27–37. doi:10.1080/0954012021000039734. ISSN 0954-0121.
  6. Harden, Victoria Angela (2012). AIDS at 30: A History (1st ed.). Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1-59797-294-9.
  7. Rodrigues, Timothy (2018-08-08). "Guest Opinion: B.A.R.'s 'No obits' turns 20". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  8. Rowan, Harriet Blair (2024-05-21). "A day with no COVID deaths? It finally happened in California". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2025-01-23.

Further reading