In the decade after the disease AIDS was formally identified in 1981, over 100,000 deaths

were reported in the USA.

It continues to devastate the lives of those unable to access the miraculously effective

treatments now available.

So why don't we talk more about the generational impact of that loss?

What happened to the legacies of those queer people and people of colour who fought to

get treatment in a political landscape happy to let them die?

And what saw that have to do with how gentrification has massively changed our cities in the years

since?

Sarah Schillman is a novelist and writer whose works have dealt with the AIDS crisis and

the radical queer movement that set out to demand justice for those affected.

She's the author of 19 fiction and non-fiction books as well as multiple plays and films.

Some of her most provocative titles include Conflict is Not Abuse, Let the Record Show,

a political history of ACT UP New York 1987 to 1993, and the gentrification of the mind

witnessed to a lost imagination.

The latter book sets out the idea that the literal gentrification of urban centres dovetailed

with the huge losses of the AIDS epidemic to erase the memories of what radical politics

can really achieve.

We talked about the history of gay radicalism through the crisis, what cities lose through

gentrification, and what today's activists can learn from a movement of people who fought

and won.

Sarah, thank you so much for joining us.

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