Editor’s Note: Not by any means is this meant to be an exhaustive list. It is simply a tribute to the talent and energy lost to AIDS in the local LGBT community.
Albert Bell
“At some point in your life, you’re faced with: ‘Are you going to shut up and die quietly? Or are you going to shout about it?’”
Founding member of the first Gay Liberation Group in San Diego. Director of The LGBT Center. Established the San Diego Chapter of Activists to Unleash Power (ACT-UP). First LGBT member of the California Democratic Party Executive Board. Established Our House, the first HIV/AIDS residential facility in San Diego.
John Ciaccio
Co-founder of San Diego Gayzette newspaper. Board of Director for San Diego AIDS Project and AIDS Assistance Fund. Plaintiff in case to force the sheriff’s department to end discrimination in its hiring practices. Arranged first Candlelight March to commemorate San Diegans lost to AIDS.
Jim Cua
“I have dedicated my life to the cause of social justice.”
Co-founder of Harvey Milk Democratic Club. Program Director for San Diego Democratic Party. Founder of Gay and Lesbian Asian Social Support (GLASS). Founder of St. Martin de Porres, a residential facility for those with HIV/AIDS. Board member for San Diego Foundation for Change.
Don Edmundson
One of San Diego’s best female impersonators. Empress I of The imperial Court de San Diego. Fundraiser for The LGBT Center, Metropolitan Community Church and many other organizations.
Tom Homann
“My guiding principle is a distrust for government and a skepticism about the way government utilizes its power, and a desire to resist authority as much as possible.”
Forced San Diego to issue the first permit for the San Diego Pride Parade through legal action. Sued the Navy to get medical benefits for two sailors with HIV/AIDS who were discharged. Sued the San Diego police department due to discriminatory hiring practices against the LGBT community.
Jess Jessop
“Yours in the struggle.”
Co-founder of The LGBT Center. Co-founder of Lambda Archives (Lesbian and Gay Historical Society of San Diego). President of SDSU Gay Liberation Front. Co-founder of San Diego LGBT Pride Parade. Inductee into San Diego Hall of Fame.
Gary Rees
Co-founder of AIDS Assistance Fund. Chairman of San Diego Walks for Life. Co-founder of Lambda Archives (Lesbian and Gay Historical Society of San Diego). Publisher of Golden Hill Neighborhood Reporter. Established Military Counseling Program at The LGBT Center, first program in the nation.
Robert Shepard
Executive Director for The LGBT Center. Co-founder of Gay Veteran’s Association.
Dr. Brad Truax
“None of us escape death, so it becomes not so much a matter of quantity of time that we spend on this earth, but quality of time.”
First chairman of San Diego County Regional AIDS Task Force. Delegate to the 1980 Democratic Convention. President of the San Diego Democratic Club. Original commissioner on the Human Relations Commission. Founded San Diego Physicians for Human Rights.
Ron Umbaugh
Owner of The Crypt, DYN American and Cryptotechnology Corporation. Co-founder of Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA).
