On July 3, 1981, in an article headlined “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,” The New York Times published its first account of a yet-unnamed epidemic. “Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer,” the article began. “Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.” Chris Bartlett was 15 when the article was published. “Between 1981 and 1995, when the first effective treatments came