HIV/AIDS, the Double Rhetoric, and Grassroots Activism in France from 1987-1993 by E. Janice O’Connor, A.A., B.A. A Thesis In History Submitted to the Graduate Faculty Of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved Erin-Marie Legacey, PhD Chair of Committee Emily Skidmore, PhD Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School August 2018 Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 Copyright 2018, E. Janice O'Connor Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank activist Gérard Pelé who took time from his busy schedule for interviews on Facebook Messenger, to scan and email documents that made this work possible. Despite the time zone difference and his work with the Gay Games Pelé helped make sure I understood the events he participated in during the first two decades of HIV/AIDS in France and the May 1968 protests. Next I would like to thank my chair for her support and advice through the whole process. She knew when to stop me and get advice from professors who had experience with oral histories. Such as the amazing Dr. Julie Willett, Dr. Laura Calkins, Dr. Jeffery Mosher, Dr. Richard B. Verrone, and Dr. Paul Bjerk. Their wisdom helped direct me to complete this project despite no previous experience with oral histories. Expertise on all LGBTQ writing and sources came from the brilliant Dr. Emily Skidmore: Thank you Dr. Skidmore. She made this experience very field specific yet bright and engaging. In addition Dr. Barbara Hahn gave the best advice and insights into the work of being a historian. Her recommendation for The Modern Researcher was a great help for someone starting off like me. Translation advice and country expertise came from Dr. Carole Edwards. Her assistance helped keep me on track when French history or culture risked derailing the accuracy of this project. Her unfailing support was a balm. Colleagues that deserve the most heartfelt gratitude include Melanie Highsmith, “Nipa” Nabanipa Majumder, Aritra De. Years ago one international student showed me that if a woman from another country can finish her master’s degree and PhD in a foreign land then surely I should be able to finish mine also. Since then she has gone on to find a new galaxy and educate others at TED talks: Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil. She showed me the light of the Koran and importance of giving to the community. She is a model academic and friend. ii Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 At home assistance came in the form of peer editing. Thank you Mansell C. Gilmore for acting as the HIV/AIDS expert. We were the two AIDS experts in the department at the time and leaned on each other for sources and corrections. Thank you Linda Gilmore for all you editing help. Thank you Family for all your support during this long and exhausting process. Thank you Mary Helen Carrizales for all the breakfasts, lunches, and the cuddly friend Roxy. She listened when no one else was around and you supported me like an angel from above. You always understood what was important and how to calm my mind. Thank you Vicki De Leon for being a friend on hard days and celebrating on better ones. Thank you Carly D. Kahl for all your academic brilliance and emotional support. iii Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 .TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................vi I. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1 Organization.........................................................................................................................7 Terminology.........................................................................................................................9 II. THE HOMOSEXUAL THREAT, FROM THE REVOLUTION TO HIV......................13 Historiography...................................................................................................................16 Background........................................................................................................................18 The Homophile Threat.......................................................................................................25 III. THE RAPIN REPORT AND MICHÈLE BARZACH.......................................................39 The AIDS work group.......................................................................................................43 AIDES (the HIV/AIDS support and education group)......................................................42 Making AIDS a National Project.......................................................................................55 The Rapin Report...............................................................................................................62 Michèle Barzach Minister of Health and Family, and AIDS, 1986-1989.........................65 AIDS education Campaigns..............................................................................................72 Conclusion: The Got Report..............................................................................................77 VI. MAKING SEX SAFE...........................................................................................................83 Gérard Pelé........................................................................................................................85 The Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York......................................................................87 American Jacks .................................................................................................................91 Health and Gay Pleasure...................................................................................................95 The SPG and the French Alliance Against AIDS (AFLS)..............................................103 Gérard Pelé and the AFLS...............................................................................................110 V. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................121 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................124 APPENDIX: AUTHOR’S INTERVIEW WITH GÉRARD PELÉ......................................146 iv Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the historical context men who slept with men faced in France during the emergence of HIV/AIDS during the late twentieth century. Specifically, it addresses the first and second round of state HIV/AIDS responses from 1987 to 1993. It argues that despite Michèle Barzach’s accolades as “the AIDS minister” she did not create the state response out of her own insights about disease prevention or public health. Instead, Barzach used guidelines set forth in Maurice Rapin’s report on the state of the nation’s HIV/AIDS responses, the Rapin Report. In addition, this thesis argues against Martel’s popular history, The Pink and The Black, that gay communities are to blame for the spread of HIV/AIDS into the general population because of their in inadequate action. Drawing on interviews with Health and Gay Pleasure co- founder, Gérard Pelé, this thesis demonstrates a relatively quick and pragmatic response to HIV/AIDS from the gay community for all men who slept with men. While France was slower to response to HIV/AIDS than most other western European nations at a state level, this research demonstrates that it was not because of disdain for the gay men the emergent disease was associated with, but a complex interaction of factors, such as medical doctors not receiving quick or adequate funding for their initial research into the disease and gay men fearing the removal of newly won rights and further stigmatization through associations with disease. From 1980 to 1993, men who slept with men in France legally changed their status as a legally defined pathology and state scourge to a group of men targeted in campaigns designed to preserve their lives and validate their existence as legitimate French citizens. v Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 LIST OF FIGURES 3.1 The first Barzach HIV/AIDS campaign..................................................................................82 4.1 Gérard Pelé (SPG) at the Duplex bar.....................................................................................116 4.2 “All you ever wanted to know about Jack-Off Parties...But were afraid to ask” cover........117 4.3 “Jack-off parties...how to guide” cover.................................................................................118 4.4 “Safer Sex, All you ever wanted to know about safer sex between men” cover...................119 4.5 “Safer Sex, All you ever wanted to know about safer sex between men” panels 2 and 3.....120 vi Texas Tech University, E. Janice O’Connor, August 2018 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Somewhat fantastical suffering, sitting in the restaurant near that vibrant little boy sitting with his parents, horrible of course, and his brother, at resigning