Excerpt of a lawyer’s deposition of Bruce Brockway, conducted on August 27, 1982. Brockway was a person of interest in a Minneapolis murder case at the time. In the clip, he discusses his AIDS diagnosis and state of health. A gay activist and the publisher of the Twin Cities’ first gay newspaper (Northland Companion, later renamed Positively Gay and then GLC Voice), Brockway was the first documented Minnesotan diagnosed with AIDS. From the personal collection of Alan Lessik. Used with the permission of Britt Aamodt.

Excerpt of a lawyer’s deposition of Bruce Brockway conducted on August 27, 1982. Brockway was a person of interest in a murder case. In the clip, Brockway discusses his AIDS diagnosis and state of health. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

In 1981, Bruce Brockway wasn’t feeling well. Doctors didn’t know what was wrong. Then in June, the CDC published a report on five men in Los Angeles dead from a mysterious ailment. Britt Aamodt looks at Minnesota’s first documented AIDS case.

ACT UP t-shirt designed by Keith Haring, mid-1980s.

Hospital-gown costume with a pink star worn for a Guerrilla Theatre protest against the Berean League’s AIDS conference at the St. Paul Civic Center on November 7, 1987. Berean League members advocated for the quarantine of people with AIDS. Six protesters, wearing white face paint and carrying signs, wore the costumes while silently processing into the conference. The robe’s pink triangle and white stripes on blue fabric refer to the gay and Jewish prisoners of war forced by Nazis to wear similar shifts in concentration camps during World War II.

Rural AIDS Action Network (RAAN) button. RAAN was established 1992 with the mission of ensuring quality services and support for people affected by HIV/AIDS, especially in rural communities.

Bruce Brockway and his partner, Rene Valdes, in 1980. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

Bruce Brockway at Minnehaha Falls in 1980. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

Bruce Brockway at home in Minneapolis in 1981, the year he started noticing his AIDS symptoms. Used with the permission of Alan Lessik.

Brother Louis Blenkner, ca. 1986. Blenkner, a Benedictine monk from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, opened Hennepin County’s first adult foster home (hospice) for people with HIV/AIDS in 1987. Used with the permission of St. John’s Abbey–Collegeville.