Meet the campaigner at the forefront of HIV/AIDS activism since the 1980s
Since co-founding the Manchester AIDS Line in 1985, Paul Fairweather has continued to be a fearless advocate for people living with HIV.
WORDS BY CONOR CLARK HEADER BY ANISA CLEAVER When the first cases of HIV were identified in the 1980s, virtually nothing was known about the virus except that it was fatal for those who contracted it.
Initially referred to as Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), gay and bisexual men in particular faced unparalleled levels of stigma in society because of the way HIV disproportionately affected them – something that only made LGBTQIA+ advocacy tougher at the time. “I worked full time on lesbian and gay equality, which was very unusual in those days,” says Paul Fairweather, a renowned human rights activist who has been at the forefront of the community response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the UK since it started. “I think in the beginning of the 1980s, things were beginning to change and improve and then I think HIV really, particularly in terms of stigmatising gay men, put things on hold in a way.” As things worsened across Manchester and the North West where Fairweather was based, he began to organise meetings and lobby for those living with HIV to get the support they needed.
He also wrote articles in gay media outlets to raise awareness among his peers and the wider LGBTQIA+ community, many of whom were increasingly fearful as they watched people close to them die of what was then a very mysterious condition. “I remember the mid-1980s towards the 1990s, people, friends of mine, who were young gay men in their 20s, began developing AIDS and dying really quickly.
