volume 26, Number 15
www.frontpagenews.com
July 22, 2005
Serving the Carolinas For Over 25 Years!
NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Schedule, ppJ-7 Local hum: Duke Doctor to Head HIV Consortium, M
25 Years
of AIDS
H.; 198J: Hie Federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) report an alarming occur
rence of a rare cancer (Kaposi’s
sarcoma) in otherwise healthy gay
men. They first call the disease
"gay cancer" but soon rename it
GRID ("gay-related immune defi
ciency"). >: , -. ■_ /
1982: First reported cases m
hemophiliacs, infants and recipi
ents of blood transfusions, evi
dence that the epidemic is not lim
ited to gay men.
Hie disease is renamed Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome
’ .VCAlbS).; ' '
1983: Researchers isolate a. new
i,,virus linked to the disease. 1 f. K
S;~1985: A Mood test to detect tfe ;
virus is approved. v?
Condoms are shown tobe effec
tive in preventing the transmis
sion dF AIDS.
; > Actor Rock Hudson is die first
major public figure to die of AIDS..
Ryan White, a hemophiliac
teenager from Indiana, is denied
entry to school because , he has
) aids.
1987: Hie first drug to treat file
virus, AZT, is approved; it was
developed by Burroughs
Wellcome Co. of Research
Triangle Park
And the Band Played On, Randy
Suits' book identifying "Patient
' Zero" and investigating the slow
response of government agencies
that allowed ihe virus to spread
virtually unchecked in the early
^1980s, is published. / " . . -
. > On October 11, 1987, the Quilt
was displayed for the first time cm .
file National Mall in Washington,
P.C., during the 2nc* National
March on Washington for Lesbian
/and Gay Rights. It covered a space
larger than a football field and
included 1,920 panels. Half a mil
lion people visit the Quilt that
weekend.
L, The AIDS Coalition to Unleash
-POwer (ACT UP) is founded' to
continued on page IQ ;
:V
Crape Myrtle Festival
Turns Twenty-five
By Mark Zumbach
Guest Contributor
On Saturday, July 30th over 1,000
people will converge on downtown
Raleigh to attend the annual fund rais
ing celebration known as the Crape
Myrtle festival. This year is special, as it
is the 25th anniversary of the Festival.
History in the making
By now, most people from the ;
HIV/AIDS and LBGT communities in
the Triangle know the often repeated
story of the festival’s roots and what it's
become over the years. But as the
evening of the silver anniversary
approaches, some of that story bears
■ retelling, *.• ■. .■ , , . ■ k
c •’ In the Summer of 1981, Mike Boyd
- hosted a summer vacation for 6 of his
friends at his home in Wilmington, NC
The 7 gay men were all very much at
the beginnings of their careers and were
living frugally - one of them recently
told me, "none of us had more than two
nickels to rub together." They decided
to make the most of their modest vaca
tion by throwing a party and gently
spoofing Wilmington’s famous Azalea
Festival. They dubbed their party the
Crape Myrtle Festival, and they
crowned their host fire Crape Myrtle
Queen. The party was a huge success,
and turned out to be the highlight of
their summer.
Hie following year, Boyd moved to
the Triangle area, and the friends decid
ed to recreate the party as a garden
party at Boyd's home in Chapel Hill,
Changing of the queens at last year’s Crape Myrtle:'Allison Edwards, Mark
Zumbach, Ray Tillery, and Patrick Brennan.
NC. There were few places in the early
80s for gay men to gather together
openly to socialize and the party
proved a welcome distraction from the
oppressive summer heat The second
party was possibly even more success
ful than die first, for die second year
Boyd was crowned queen of the festival
and an annual tradition was bom.
In the mean time, stories were start
ing to come out of New York and
California about a strange new illness
that only appeared to be affecting gay
men, in fact it was often called "gay can
cer" or “gay related immune deficiency."
For gay men living in the South, the
news about this illness seemed like
something not connected to us at all.
No one knew what was causing the ill
ness, but it seemed to be only affecting
people in large cities - and the national
media was paying it so little attention, it
seemed like something that would go
away. But the illness spread, it was
renamed Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS), and if grew into a
national and then global epidemic.
As the AIDS epidemic spread, it
began to touch the lives of gay men
everywhere. In North Carolina, we
started hearing stories of friends who'd
moved away getting sick and dying.
And some of our friends, who'd moved
aWay, came home when they, were no
longer well enough to tali care of
themselves.
At the annual Crape Myrtle Festival,
someone started passing a bucket to
collect money for sick friends who were
struggling with mounting medical bills
and making rent.
Hie Crape Myrtle Festival continued
to grow, and became a party people
jockeyed to wrangle an invitation to.
The organizers were also realizing the
fundraising potential, as they saw how
much was collected informally at the
party.
In the late 80s, the party became an
continued on page 8
NC Lesbian & Gay Film Festival ~ wwwxarolinatheatre.org *