The lesbian ‘blood sisters’ who cared for gay men when doctors were too scared to When fear of the Aids epidemic was mounting and blood reserves were running out, women stepped in

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) has claimed the lives of an estimated 35 million people worldwide and continues to be a major health issue globally. Despite the fact that antiretroviral therapy can reduce the virus to undetectable levels in the blood, meaning it cannot be transmitted to a partner during sex, only 59 per cent of the 36.9 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS in 2017 are currently accessing these drugs.

Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are slowly winning the war on HIV and Aids. According to the World Health Organisation, the number of people dying from Aids-related deaths has fallen by 51 per cent, from 1.9 million in 2004 to 940,000 in 2017. With the right medication, HIV is no longer a death sentence – it is not even a life-limiting sentence, and we are now close to developing an HIV vaccine.

The terror that gripped the world

Despite enormous advancements in treatment and education, those living with the virus continue to face stigma and discrimination.

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But unless you lived through it, it is hard to imagine the sheer terror that gripped the world when the HIV epidemic broke out in the 1980s. There was no treatment, no cure, and death was certain.

In the early days of the epidemic, no-one was sure what this disease was, how it was spread or who was at risk. Because the majority of early cases affected gay men it was known as the ‘gay cancer’ and by 1982 HIV was called the ‘gay-related immune deficiency’ (Grid).

It wasn’t until the following year that it became clear heterosexual people were equally at risk of infection, and another three years before the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses officially declared the virus that causes Aids would be called HIV.

The repeated reassurances from health authorities that the virus could not be contracted through touch did little to quell the panic. The fear was so great that even some healthcare professionals refused to treat people suffering from HIV or Aids. In 1986, staff at Merseyside hospitals had to have special training after a number of them refused to treat patients with Aids.

In September 1985, the Royal College of Nursing was forced to issue a warning that nurses refusing to treat patients with HIV or Aids could be struck off. There were cases of pathologists refusing to perform a post-mortem on anyone who had died from an Aids-related illness. In 1987, the General Medical Council expressed concern after learning a number of doctors were refusing to treat anyone with the HIV virus or Aids. Sadly, such incidents were by no means unique to the UK.

Doctors were scared to go into hospital rooms

Jon* was a gay man living in San Francisco during the HIV outbreak in the 1980s.

“I was young and I had just come out when the virus hit,” he explained. “I was lucky and didn’t contract HIV, but all of my friends from that time are dead. It just happened so quickly. There was incredible fear. People were dying so, so fast and there were so many of them. I remember doctors being scared to go into the hospital rooms where my friends were dying. I feel ashamed of this, but I was scared too. No-one knew what to do.”

‘Groups of lesbian women banded together to support and tend the men dying from Aids’

The panic and misunderstanding that characterised the first years of the Aids epidemic are understandable. But despite the fear, people did step up to help and care for the sick. As the gay community struggled to process incredible trauma, grief, and homophobia, groups of lesbian women banded together to support and tend to the men dying from Aids. “I remember them,” says Jon.

“Suddenly, the hospitals were full of lesbians who were volunteering. Volunteering to go into those rooms and help my friends who were dying. I remember being so moved by them because gay men hadn’t been too kind to lesbians. We’d call them ‘fish’ and make fun of the butch dykes in the bars – and yet, there they were.”

Jad Adams is a UK historian who has researched the history of the HIV epidemic and the role of activists for his documentary ‘Aids: The Unheard Voices’ (1987). He told me: “In the USA and the UK throughout the 80s and 90s, lesbians were active and much appreciated for their caring role in looking after men with Aids – hospital visits, social security forms, befriending and so on. It is important to remember that a lot of these men were not out to their families or were explicitly rejected by their families. They really needed the support which gay-friendly women could provide.”

They also gave their blood

In America, lesbian activists were prepared to give more than their time and care – they also gave their blood. In 1983, MSM, or “men who have sex with men”, were banned from giving blood across America in an effort to prevent HIV being spread through blood transfusions. Other countries soon followed suit, and MSM are still banned from donating blood, or subject to severe restrictions, around the world today.

Not only did the ban on gay men giving blood deplete the reserves available, but the battery of blood tests and experimental treatments left HIV left sufferers severely anaemic and in need of regular transfusions. HIV patients desperately needed blood, and the ‘lesbian blood drives’ were prepared to supply it.

‘Barbra hoped there would be 50 or so donating; close to 200 women queued around the block to give their blood’

In 1983, the ‘Women’s Caucus of the San Diego Democratic Club’ formed the ‘San Diego Blood Sisters’ and organised regular drives to ensure there was enough blood available to meet demand. Barbara Vick and her partner, now wife, had been a regular blood donor in San Diego when the ban on MSM blood donation came in.

Realising the demand for blood, Barbara established an account with a private San Diego blood bank which would allow donors to designate who would receive their donation – in this case, those with HIV and Aids. The Blood Sisters held their first drive on 16 July 1983. Barbra hoped there would be 50 or so donating; close to 200 women queued around the block to give their blood. From then on, the Blood Sisters held regular drives to ensure those with HIV and Aids had the blood needed for their treatment.

Similar blood drives were soon organised around the country, frequently hosted by lesbian and gay religious congregations. Blood drives were held in Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Memphis, and Washington. In 1983, the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank and the National Organization of Women held a blood drive in San Francisco. Jon remembers seeing a poster advertising the event that simply read: “Our Boys Need Our Blood”. In August 1987, the San Francisco gay-lesbian newspaper ‘Coming Out’ urged the lesbian community to donate blood to “stand by our brothers in fighting the Aids epidemic”.

The blood drives ran throughout the 80s and into the 90s when the first antiretroviral drug treatments became widely available.

These drives also let gay men know they were loved

In 2016, Barbara Vick and the other founding members of the San Diego Blood Sisters were honoured by San Diego Lambda Archives’ in their celebratory event ‘Heroines, Pioneers and Trailblazers’. “There was a powerlessness that everybody felt, but the lesbian community seemed, in some ways, immune to the disease,” Barbara recalled. “I don’t want to say there was a sense of guilt, but then you look at your counterparts and feel that they are carrying the burden of this for no reason.” She added: “At that time, I don’t think that women economically had as much to give as men. But this was something that they could do, the giving of themselves. – and heart blood is such a basic thing.”

‘Groups like the ‘Blood Sisters’ were about more than fighting AIDS: they were about fighting prejudice, uniting a community and showing the authorities that blood really is thicker than water’

The drives offered much more than a ready blood supply. It was about reaching out and letting the sick know they were loved and part of a community. The stigma attached not only to HIV, but also to homosexuality, meant many young men were rejected by their families and left to die alone.

There was also a strong sense the gay community had been abandoned by a government who couldn’t bring themselves to talk about gay men. President Regan did not speak publicly about Aids until 1987 – after 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with HIV and an estimated 20,000 had already died.

The support offered to the sick by ordinary people was vital in the fight against HIV, but also in challenging stigma and injustice. Groups like the Blood Sisters were about more than fighting Aids: they were about fighting prejudice, uniting a community and showing the authorities that blood really is thicker than water.