In 1991, she established the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. The organization, amfAR, wasn't the only way Taylor sought to stop the spread of AIDS. To see their heritage, what they had given the world, be desecrated with people saying, 'Oh, AIDS is probably what they deserve' or 'it's probably God's way of weeding the dreadful people out,' made me so irate." Without their input it would be an entirely different, flat world. So many of the great musicians, the great painters were homosexual. "We can trace that back thousands of years.
"If it weren't for homosexuals there would be no culture," she said. In a 2007 interview with Interview magazine, she slammed those who say the homosexual community asked for AIDS, and said their vitriol motivated her to get involved.
Gay rights was also a cause Taylor never hesitated to trumpet. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate and from ignorance."
"Why shouldn't gay people be able to live as open and freely as everybody else? What it comes down to, ultimately, is love. "There is no gay agenda it's a human agenda," Taylor said in her acceptance speech. GLAAD honored Taylor with a Vanguard Award in 2000. Dame Taylor was an icon not only in Hollywood, but in the LGBT community where she worked to ensure that everyone was treated with the respect and dignity we all deserve." "At a time when so many living with HIV/AIDS were invisible, Dame Taylor fearlessly raised her voice to speak out against injustice.
FAMOUS GAY MEN WITH HIV FULL
"Today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community lost an extraordinary ally in the movement for full equality," GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios said in a statement released Wednesday. Dame Elizabeth's compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all."įor her work, GLAAD, the Gay andLesbian Alliance Against Defamation, called Taylor an ally. She has testified eloquently on Capitol Hill, while raising millions of dollars for amfAR. For 25 years, Dame Elizabeth has been a passionate advocate of AIDS research, treatment and care. "She was among the first to speak out on behalf of people living with HIV when others reacted with fear and often outright hostility. "Dame Elizabeth was without doubt one of the most inspirational figures in the fight against AIDS," amfAR said in a statement. Wednesday, following Taylor's death, amfAR made clear its debt to the star crusader. Taylor served as its founding international chairman. That year, she helped found amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, now one of the world's leading AIDS research organizations with $325 million invested in its programs. "Rock" was Rock Hudson, Taylor's friend and fellow star who died in 1985 of complications from AIDS. "And it made me so angry that we all sat around the dining room table, 'Isn't this awful, isn't this tragic? Oh, my god.' But nobody was doing anything. I also want to break down barriers of communication in families and the church, and even just on the block."We all heard of it and nobody was doing anything about it," she said. Also, I think it's kind of a known thing in the Black community, but are we accepting of young black non-binary people and allowing them to feel safe and allowing them feel that they can be taken care of, and that they can trust doctors and healthcare professionals? One thing I hope As Much As I Can opens up is exploring how we have real conversations in the community about these issues and destigmatize homosexuality, queerness, non-binary relationships and roles. And because quality care is so expensive, the idea of having to go and get tested and then having to go twice a year to get blood work and medication those things for many people, especially for marginalized people, is scary. Sometimes people go to the doctor and they feel that they don't know what the doctors are talking about, or they don't trust the healthcare system, they feel like they're being charged every time they go in, so financial barriers are an issue. To that end, the government is actually failing our community. In the United States, healthcare is overly complicated and doesn't seek to serve everyone and their needs. In most countries in Europe, there are amazing healthcare benefits in place for citizens. Information is available, but not always easy to understand or access. For some queer people of color, the process of seeking proper healthcare is a barrier in itself, due to a person's resources, whether it is financial or educational.