WORKSHEET 1: We Were Here

1. Where and when does this film take place?

This film takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area through the early 1980s to the early 1990s, where
many gay men had flocked to the San Francisco and were beginning to be hit by the AIDS epidemic.

2. Describe the other political issues and health disparities going on at this time, before HIV/AIDS was
widely known, and why each was important in this context:
a. The assassination of Harvey Milk occurred during this time period, as did the uproar from the gay
community as his assassin was not found guilty on the count of first-degree murder but rather
voluntary manslaughter. This was a major gathering of people in the LGBT community which is
important since this event happened as AIDS was not yet discovered.

b. Ronald Reagan was elected president in the 1980 election and officially sworn in on January 20th,
1981. Reagan’s far right beliefs left a lot of people in the LGBT community unsafe as he would not
work to protect them and their rights. As the community would see in the upcoming couple of years,
he would not work to support people suffering of AIDS.

c. The WHO successfully eradicated the Smallpox virus in 1979, a few years before AIDS would take
hold. This was a milestone in public health, as smallpox had ravaged communities for decades and
decades, and finally eradicating the disease is something that we can’t say for AIDS.

3. Describe how travel impacted the transmission of the disease. In other words, why was this city at this
point in history so important?

Because gay men were flocking to San Francisco to ‘be gay,’ that meant that they had sex with each other,
which could be for the pleasure of sex itself, or to look for love, or to rebel against the society that had held
them back. Because of all of the sex being held, AIDS spread quickly, as AIDS can transmitted through anal
sex.

4. How did information and knowledge about the disease develop over time, and how was it shared with
others?

The first instances of this disease being shared can be found in the magazines and periodicals that were shared
amongst the gay community, labeling it the ‘gay cancer.’ Eventually, due to the ingrained homophobia in
society, AIDS was labeled by the rest of society as the ‘gay disease,’ effectively othering it which would
severely impact how people with AIDS would be treated in hospitals.

5. Doctors were *not* the “first responders” to this epidemic. Who made the first impacts on
understanding HIV/AIDS and in what ways did they help?

The people who made the first impacts in studying HIV/AIDS were the community leaders who were forced
into positions of leaders, whether or not they wanted to. People like the ones involved in the Shanti Project were
able to help by listening to the sufferers and not judge them.
6. What unique skills, besides medical training, were needed to understand and intervene in this
epidemic?

Because society had held a stigma against gay people, the people needed to understand and treat AIDS
properly were ones who were either directly involved in or very experienced with the gay community. The
Shanti Project, to elaborate further, consisted of counselors, some part of the LGBTQ+ community and
some not, who would comfort people suffering of AIDS. Because of their connection to the gay community,
they were actually able to help.

7. Describe the pace the disease spread through the population, and why this was important.

This disease spread incredibly quickly, with about 10% of the gay community being infected to about 50% over
the course of only a few years. This was important to keep in mind as this entire community was ravaged by
AIDS, not only just because of the speed at which it spread through the population but also because of how it
killed it too. Over 13 million people have died from AIDS since 2013, a statistic that shocks me and should
shock the rest of the world.

8. What were the barriers to HIV/AIDS education and treatment, and who was most impacted?

The main barriers to education and treatment for HIV/AIDS were found in the officials people turn towards in
situations like these. Because of the stigma held against gay people, the disease was either covered up entirely,
as being homosexual was not something people wanted to talk about, or it was labeled as the ‘gay disease’ and
only furthered ignorant beliefs amongst bigots. These harmful ideas even led to the proposal of forced
quarantine for people who have tested positive or marking people with a tattoo or something similar to show
they have AIDS. The LGBTQ+ community was hit hard by this, since these ideas enforced the way that the
medical system could help care for them.

9. What organizations and services developed to address the epidemic?

One example of an organization that addressed the epidemic was Mobilization against AIDS. Their goal was
first to take care of sick, then to try to stop infection, and finally learn how to advocate for the community. This
organization laid the groundworks for similar organizations like Act Up, which was a movement that consisted
of young, politically motivated people who protested and let the world know about what was happening. On the
medical side of things, the Quest Clinical Research Center was formed, which was an organization that aimed at
finding treatments and cures for AIDS.

10. What kind of “trial and error” approaches to care occurred during this time, and what impact did
they have on the patients and overall population?

Because no one knew how best to approach HIV/AIDS, studies were held in order to find a cure. An example of
such a trial was the Suramin study. Suramin is a drug that was believed could help cure AIDS. As one of the
participants noted, it did more harm than good, The study, in the case of one person, activated chronic hepatitis
B, which led to an early death for him. Only 1 person in that study survived, and he dropped out early. Because
these trials were unsuccessful and didn’t prevent death or aid recovery, this only led the community to feel
discouraged.

11. List any questions or topics you want us to discuss as a class.

Aids Memorial Quilt - Roy Cohn patch

WORKSHEET 2: How to Survive a Plague

1. Where and when does this film take place, and how is this different from We Were Here?

This film takes place in New York City, completely across the country from where We Were Here took
place, and this film starts in 1987, 6 years into the AIDS epidemic, and goes through the 90s, while We
Were Here focused on the beginning of the epidemic through to the present.

2. What takes place in the first 7 minutes of the film, why is it happening, and how did you feel
watching this footage?

In the first 7 minutes, a group of gay protestors make the decision to protest the horrible conditions in
hospitals and the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic from New York mayor Ed Koch. These protestors
are then taken away and arrested by the police, despite protesting peacefully.

3. What various strategies did ACT UP use to further their cause and what was the purpose and
result of each method?
a. Public Protest - by protesting publicly outside of the White House and FDA building, amongst other
places, ACT UP was able to publicly bring light to the issues they wished to resolve.

b. Invasion of private property - By going into private buildings and holding themselves inside until
someone of authority would listen to them or give into their demands, ACT UP was able to find
success and lead to things like the DDI drug getting fasttracked.

c. Informative info on new drugs and which drugs should work best - By putting out information for
men suffering with HIV/AIDS, they were able to inform the suffering minority and help them out,
even if not much help was to be found.

d. Communication on a higher level - By utilizing platforms like television programs, such as the one
Peter Stanley appeared as a guest on, ACT UP was able to give a much more concise and digestible
message in a medium that wasn’t aggressive or disruptive, as the protests above could be interpreted.

4. Describe the community organizing, consensus building, and communication strategies used by
the members of ACT UP.
a. Community Organizing: By being a volunteer organization where anyone and anyone could
volunteer to help, ACT UP was able to create a group in which every member searched for solutions
to the problems put forth by the AIDS epidemic. As a loud and powerful group, they were able to
help bring drugs to a needing public, inform others of disparities found in these communities, and
 ultimately bring some form of resolution to this horrific incident.

b. Consensus Building: Because ACT UP was a group of people from various forms and walks of life,
they were able to facilitate the needs and desires of these people while also pushing forward a
coherent narrative. A good example of this is the argument and eventual agreement between ACT UP
and TAG, two groups with different focuses but a similar end goal.

c. Communication Strategies: By putting forth paper plans and by having angry and driven people in
charge, ACT UP was able to rally a public behind them and influence people in power to ultimately
give into their demands and help a public desperately in need of care.

5. How did regular people get information about HIV/AIDS and related research and treatments
during this time? Describe your reactions to these methods.

During the times in which information about HIV/AIDS was not widespread, information was spread
through groups like ACT UP publishing informational pamphlets and packets, and through widespread protests.
This is, in my opinion, a complete failing of the government and authorities in charge. An epidemic is occurring
and the officials choose to do very little to inform the public, ultimately leading to a group of activists taking a
stand.

6. What public health service agencies were highlighted in this film, and what roles did they play
during the HIV/AIDS epidemic?

The main public health agency referenced is the FDA. The film spends a vast majority of it’s runtime
focusing on the lack of a response from the FDA in terms of rolling out new drugs to help cure AIDS.

7. Discuss your reaction to the activism event at the White House. Describe comparable forms of
activism that you have seen or learned about elsewhere. Explain.

The most emotional scene of the documentary was the activist event at the White House where a large
group of people protested outside of the White House, confronting the people who caused the entire
epidemic directly. The images of these protestors are incredibly moving, seeing as many brought the
ashes and remains of their loved ones who have passed away from AIDS. This protest reminded me of
the BLM protests that occurred in June of 2020, in terms of large groups of people confronting the
government for preventable actions that could have stopped the deaths of many innocent individuals.

8. What were ACT UP’s most impactful achievements and how do we see these in practice today?

ACT UP was an incredibly impactful organization in that they helped to fast track the distribution of the
drug DDI. While the drug itself was not effective at curing HIV/AIDS, the group was able to call more
attention to the lack of progress in developing other drugs. ACT UP was also an organization that was
able to inform millions of people about AIDS and give them accurate information, as opposed to
government leaders, done through protest and informational packets. Without this information being
spread, then the AIDS epidemic would not have been resolved when it did.

9. In putting the two films together, what are key take-aways about how HIV/AIDS was treated in
the 1980s and 90s? How are these similar or different from what we see today?
 The key take-away, for me, was the lack of care from officials in charge of our government. Even
though AIDS hit both New York and San Francisco, the amount of time it took for any form of major
response to occur was too long. This is something that’s really familiar today, what with the COVID-19
pandemic and subsequent vaccine rollout.

10. Provide your own final reflections about these two films.

I’m writing out these two worksheets after having finished both films tired and sad and a bit hopeful.
I’m not tired in the sense that I need sleep (although I probably do) but just that I finally feel like I’m done
hearing about pandemics and epidemics. I’ve been able to live a life that hasn’t been completely torn apart by
COVID-19 and I’ve adjusted to living in a pandemic pretty well, but after having seeing these two
documentaries, I feel like I need things to go back to the way things were.
I feel sad too. Sad that a huge part of the community and group of people that I belong to as a gay person
was wiped out. And I only feel sadder that the community only grew stronger from this horrific incident.
Without the AIDS epidemic, the LGBTQ+ community would be something completely different, something
maybe not as accepting or as tight-knit. And that’s something that’s been haunting me ever since I saw We Were
Here where people talk about the Shanti Project, or seeing Peter Stanley’s educational and riveting responses to
the homophobic talk show hosts in How To Survive a Pandemic.
And I feel a little bit happy too. Happy that there is some semblance of a happy ending in terms of a
drug that is effective and saves lives. This happiness doesn’t last long, however, because the cost is still too high
for many people suffering with AIDS. Until our country has universal health care, AIDS will never end.