ABSTRACT
The July 1996 International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, stories about protease inhibitors appeared throughout the media. This chapter discusses the struggle of Andrew Sullivan to fit his experience with AIDS into the narrative framework crafted by men of his gay generation. As an HIV-negative gay man, he expected to be the last person significantly affected by the Protease Moment. Some gay men are using the Protease Moment to argue for mandatory testing, contact tracing, partner notification, and centralized reporting of HIV-positive people, ironically at the same time a conservative Republican in Congress has put forward a bill that would codify such practices. This chapter approaches the third decade of AIDS with the primary voices speaking for AIDS activists and service groups continuing to frame the epidemic as it was first framed almost two decades ago. Protease inhibitors might not be the cure, but they sure sound like one in the words of Andrew Sullivan.
