“Why are women invisible in the AIDS pandemic?”

Postcard of an ACT UP Women’s Caucus protest, 1990

ACT UP demonstrators hang a “CDC Kills” banner from the roof of the Centers for Disease Control, 1990 (Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library)

In 1990, activist Maxine Wolfe began to host “Dyke Dinners” to build community among lesbians in ACT UP New York, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. At the dinners, Wolfe and other lesbians found space to voice their frustration with the men of ACT UP, who frequently excluded HIV-positive women—most of whom were women of color—from their activism. Wolfe and her peers formed the ACT UP Women’s Caucus with two main goals: to force the CDC to change their AIDS definition, which was skewed towards men’s experience with the disease; and to raise awareness of safer sex practices within the lesbian community. Lawyer Terry McGovern led the fight to change the definition.

Excerpt of a NYT article from the June 7, 1991 edition

Wolfe’s 1991 testimony before Congress is described in the Times article  “AIDS Definition Excludes Women, Congress Is Told.” She described how her female HIV-positive clients “died before getting any benefits,” because, according to the CDC’s definition, they did not have AIDS. In addition to testimony, the Women’s Caucus held protests shown in the photo and post-card above. In 1993, after two years of tireless activism by the Women’s Caucus, the CDC finally changed their AIDS definition. Caucus member Marion Banzhaf remembered that the number of women eligible under the definition went from “10 percent to 50 percent…overnight.”

Below are two pamphlets: The first, an informational campaign for 1992’s World AIDS day, asks, “Why are women invisible in the AIDS pandemic?” The second is a flyer for a “political funeral.” Joan Baker died of AIDS when she was just 25 years old. Her memorial service was a protest. As you look at the objects on this page, including the flyer for this political funeral, remember Joan: “one courageous dyke who lived and died in the face of apathy, denial, and invisibility.”