Lesbian Volunteerism in the AIDS Epidemic: A Story We Almost Lost

Women Series. Episode #1 of 4.  When we tell the story of AIDS— and we tell it more often now, in films and museums and classrooms— we tend to tell it as a story about gay men. And of course it was, overwhelmingly, a catastrophe that fell on gay men. But standing right beside those men, and very often holding them as they died, were lesbians. They organized. They protested. They gave blood. They emptied bedpans and changed sheets and sat through long nights in hospital rooms that nurses were afraid to enter. To some people listening it may seem only natural that lesbians stood in solidarity with gay men but to historians of queer history, this turn of events is surprising; these were, in many cases, women who had spent the entire previous decade in open political conflict with gay men. The 1970s gay and lesbian movement was not one big happy family. It was torn by a deep and sometimes bitter rift between gay men and lesbian feminists. And yet, when the crisis came, the women showed up. As part of our 2026 Women series, and in honor of Pride month, we’re going to tell their stories. Find show notes and transcripts at: www.digpodcast.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices