“The Call…”Act One - “Discovery”

In 1988 - at the height of the AIDS Epidemic - December 1 was Designated World AIDS Day and has been recognized worldwide through the subsequent 37 years. 

This year, by Royal Decree, the United States will not be acknowledging The Day, The Epidemic or The more than 700,000 Loved Ones lost…killed by The Virus…just in the United States.

Doing the math, it seems likely the majority of those reading this were not there when all this happened. I know that those know it was dark, black, terrifying and inconceivable; witnessing friends, acquaintances and loved ones wither away and die in just weeks. 

In Session 4 of the MasterClass, actors who were there when it happened perform Act I of “The Call,”live, for the cohort - all of whom are generally under 40 and only know what they’ve read or been told what that experience was. This piece communicates.

In four minutes, the sharp, brutal reality of what thousands of (mostly) men and boys went through - having to call home, Come Out to their parents and tell them they were dying at the same time - is viscerally communicated. 

When the brief performance ends in Class; at first, the group is silent, catching their emotional breath. What then follows is an impromptu conversation about the realities of the Epidemic; with urgently asked, probing questions borne of a new, deeper understanding.

In light of the Administration’s cancelling of World AIDS Day and in support of one’s own edification, I ask you to take just four minutes to read this piece. Four minutes. 

If interest is piqued, if one wants a fuller picture, there are three more Acts - all quite short - through which one can scroll past Act 1. In my experience, it’s kind of riveting for fresh and empathetic eyes to absorb this story, lest it be forgotten. I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll appreciate having read it. 

Never Forget.

KO

“The Call”

…that thousands of boys and men had to make…

Act One - “Discovery”

Written for the 30th Anniversary of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation

September 29, 2012

When AIDS descended into the world in the 1980’s, it was an invisible, incomprehensible and deadly disease for which there was no treatment nor cure. The world was terrified, and terrified of any one who fell to it or was seen as a target for what wasn’t yet defined even as a virus. Thousands of men were dying within weeks - by 1983, more than 3,000 had died just in NYC, SF and LA. Over 5,000 had died by 1985.

By 1986, 16,000 dead in the US. 1987, another 4,135. 1988: 4,855. 1989: 14,544. 1990: 18,447. 1991: 20,454.

Cumulative deaths in US through 2002–501,669.

• Approximate total worldwide death count — 6,400,000.

• Approximate number of HIV-positive people worldwide — 22,000,000.

• To put this number in perspective, it is larger than the total population of the continent of Australia.

There was no test for infection until 1985. All we knew was that it was mostly Gay men fallng to it in the US; while it was taking vast tolls in some heterosexual populations of Africa and Jamaica. I believe it is impossible to exaggerate the tense terror that pervaded the atmosphere in urban (and all) gay communities. It was not unheard of for roommates to throw the belongings of and bar the friend who had contracted the disease from entering the house; ambulances would refuse to pick up people with AIDS…and it got worse before it got better.

[Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_and_AIDS for the transcript of the jokes about AIDS made in the White House Press Room in October of 1982.]

In those early years, and for many years as the pandemic grew and the government and society aggressively shunned those who fell; many, many boys and men who had escaped to find their tribes in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York CIty, Chicago and other safer havens…escaping the negativity and rejection of their homes and often families to find community…these were compelled to make The Call. 

Calling home to tell their parents that they were Gay…and were dying. 

This performane for the 30th anniversary of the SF AIDS Foundation articulates some of those calls.

Note: These facts have, in just the past few days, disappeared from our .gov websites; though are preserved on some private sites (https://www.factlv.org/timeline.htm being one of them).

Most important to note, remember and share is that a person who is HIV-positive, with an undetectable viral load and is on medications is unable to pass the virus onward. This information is disappearing from USGov’t websites. 

There are treatments and prevention methodologies for HIV…and scientists were coming closer and closer to a cure before their funding in the US was cut and their agencies closed by our government. Other countries are still working on this.

And so, to “The Call: Discovery”

Image by “Homer,” my ChatGPT AI. (Named after the one who wrote “The Iliad” & “The Odyssey” … Not the star of “The Simpsons”

ACT I – Discovery

…As the guests are settling into the party, first drinks in hand and buffet stations inspected and selected; suddenly, Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” bursts from the speakers: the lighting goes to Fabulous, spotlights ballyhoo and colors flash everywhere as the encircling balcony and free-standing platforms are filled with flaggers. We are at The Saint or Trocadero, and the year is 1983…

For a full minute, the audience is immersed in fantastic, frenetic, kinetic nostalgia; smiling at the blurred memories of dancing ‘til dawn in self-actualized celebration of liberation and freedom…

The music suddenly comes to a stop. 

The upper reaches of the ballroom go dark as the lights move across the audience to focus on the stage. There, standing in a column of light is the Boy, quiet. We hear the ringing of a landline  telephone… 

Mom:

Hello…?

Boy:

Hello, Mom? It’s me.

Mom:

So I see. Where are you? Are you coming home?

Boy:

I’m not coming home, Mom; I live in San Francisco. For now anyway… Would you put Dad on the extension, please? I have something I want to tell you both.

Mom:

I think we already know anything you could tell us, by now…

Boy:

Actually, Mom, I don’t think you know this. Please get dad on the line…

Mom (hollers to Dad):

Pappa, Honey, get on the extension. Our son has something he wants to tell us.

Dad:

Hey, Kid; how’s it going, out there in…California?

Boy:

Hey, Dad. Mom.

So, Listen. How are you guys doing, out there? Has it snowed, yet? The weather, here, is always so mild…well, except in the summer, when it gets cold and foggy…<weak laugh>… I miss you guys; mom, I miss your cooking. I’ve lost some weight, <takes a breath> recently, and sure could go for some of your mashed potatoes and gravy…

<uncomfortable silence>

Mom:

Son, we haven’t heard from you in months, and this is what you call to talk about? Weather and food?

Boy:

No. No, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I just think about you a lot, recently, and I wanted… Well, I need to tell you some things; some stuff I’ve been keeping to myself for a long time, some stuff that’s a little newer…

Dad:

Did you lose your job, Son? Are you okay? Do you need money?

Mom:

He’s a big boy, Pappa, he can take care of himself. After all, he moved clear to California to be on his own, didn’t he…?

Dad:

Mamma…

Boy:

Dad, it’s all right. I still have a job.

So, here’s the thing. I know how upset you were when I didn’t propose to Susie; and that you’ve never been happy about me moving away. I just had to get to a bigger place.

I never felt right in our town, I never fit, and I knew if I came someplace like San Francisco, I might fit in better; meet more people….like…me…

Mom/Dad:

<quietly> like you…?

Boy:

So, the first thing I need to tell you is that I’m Gay. I’ve known it forever, it feels like. I kept hoping that maybe I’d grow… that I’d… But it never…

Dad:

We know, Son. We knew, didn’t we, Momma…?

Mom:

<silence>

Boy:

I thought you might; but I was afraid to bring it up. I didn’t want to disappoint you. I know you had plans…

Dad:

You didn’t dis…

Boy:

<interrupting> There’s more, Dad. Mom.

Mom:

<almost coldly, stoic> What is it?

Boy:

Well, I mentioned I’ve lost some weight. Actually, I’ve lost a lot of weight, sorta fast. I’m sick.

Mom:

<very stoically, with bitterness> 

What is it? A flu? Pneumonia? I knew all that fog…

Boy:

It’s not the flu, Mom. I don’t know what it is. There’s a lot of confusion about what’s going on, and a lot of guys are getting sick…very sick…very fast. No one is sure where it’s coming from; but other guys like me are getting it, all over the place…guys like me…It’s scary…I’m scared, a little…

Dad:

<bravely> What are your symptoms, Son? Are you coughing? What…?

Mom:

Do you have a fever?

Boy:

That’s what’s so scary. At first, I was just so tired…just climbing stairs was wearing me out for no reason. Then, about two weeks ago, these spots started showing up on my legs; then, last week, there were a couple on my chest….

<silence>

Then, this morning as I was shaving, I found one on my cheek. <he chokes a little> …on my face, Mom!

My face…

Dad:

<quietly> What does your doctor say? Are you taking anything? What’s your treatment?

Mom:

What do these spots look like. What’s on your face?

Boy:

That’s just it; nobody knows what to do about it. There seems to be no medicine for this. These spots…they look like big brown amoebas made of the same stuff as a mole or a dark freckle… They’re ugly…

Mom:

Are you in pain, Honey? How did you get this?

Boy:

No one seems to really know where it comes from; but it’s hitting all my friends, lots of guys I know or used to see around just seem to be disappearing. First they get tired like I did, then they lose a lot of weight, then you just don’t see them, anymore…

<silence>

They just….disappear… My friends… Disappearing…

Mom:

Well. Perhaps if you hadn’t…

Dad:

<cuts her off> We’re coming out there, Son.

Mom:

We are…?

Dad:

Yes, we are. We’ll make arrangements to get out there, next week. You sure you don’t need any money?

Mom:

Can you get the time off, Pappa?

Dad:

I can get the time off. We’ll come out there. Anything you want us to bring…?

Boy:

I don’t need anything, Dad; I’d just like to see you… 

<pause>

Mom, would you make some Mashed Potatoes while you’re here…?

<fade out> 

Act I Coda - VoiceOver in the Darkness

“His parents may have made it to San Francisco in time to say “goodbye” to their son; or perhaps not. In those dark and confusing, early years it was often a matter of only a few, short weeks between Discovery, Diagnosis and Death. By the time one realized weight was dropping too fast, that the bruise was more than a bruise, the disease was often in advanced stages. It was as though a brutal, Autumn wind swept through this City, taking  with it hundreds of young men and women, like so many brittle leaves, week after month after year.

“Many parents, brothers and sisters, friends, relatives rushed to San Francisco only to arrive too late. Our Community seeking and finding no help from elsewhere, was going to have to address this Thing by ourselves. And that, we did…

“Over those first, few years; San Francisco’s response…for Triage and Caregiving, for succor and sustenance, set the bar and became what the rest of the country and now the world see as the Model for communities to deal with the myriad needs that appeared.

“Concurrently, we had to face and aggressively enlighten a nation; striving to protect ourselves from and eliminate an instantly-inherent, blaming prejudice coming even from government agencies and leadership.

“What was happening was unprecedented, unfathomable, inexplicable; a swift-moving, deadly mystery that was pulling our lives out from under us. A Vale of Tears through which most all of us passed; perhaps not at the same time, nor the same place, and all too often, alone..”