True dedication
dallasvoice.comDon Maison said that the above photo was his favorite out of so many photos taken of him. Don Maison took care of housing needs for people with HIV and defended LGBTQ people against discrimination DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writertaffet@dallasvoice.com When Don Maison retired as president and CEO of AIDS Services Dallas in 2019, after 32 years at the organization’s helm, he was the longest-serving head of an AIDS organization in the United States.
He died on Feb. 21, just three years after retiring, following a long illness and a short battle with esophageal cancer. When Maison retired, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price presented him with a proclamation, joking that he wasn’t sure if Maison, who was an attorney as well as HIV/AIDS activist and agency head, was being courageous when he took on the often-embattled Price as a legal client, or if Maison was just a little crazy.
Before dedicating his career to housing people living with HIV, Maison was an attorney fighting for LGBTQ rights, and he was responsible for leading the legal effort to end police harassment in LGBTQ bars in Dallas.
Then in the late 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, Maison was hired to become the new executive director of what was then known as the PWA (People With AIDS) Coalition.
