ABSTRACT
The cultural backgrounds and work experience of policy makers and leaders of AIDS organizations determine their selection of prevention, service, and political interventions as well as the ways in which they respond to sexism, racism, and class. While lesbians were especially connected to the feminist community and institutions, it seems that gay men were more connected to social institutions. Thus, when the seventies ended and the AIDS epidemic exploded, most lesbians and gay men were living essentially parallel lives, organized primarily around the separate themes of female values and feminism for the women and masculinity and justice for men. The basic arenas of AIDS activity might usefully be sorted into five institutional foci: medical, public health, educational, caring services, and political. Most of the lesbians who got involved in AIDS research, service, and policy work in the early years, however, were both feminists and nurturers who saw themselves connected politically and ethically to the various populations at risk for AIDS.
