HIV campaigns and queer activism in Athens and their transnational context, ca. 1985–ca. 1997

Abstract

First paragraph: “I had the opportunity to travel to America and Europe. I … encountered ACT UP [AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power] when it was created in New York,” narrates Grigoris Vallianatos, a prominent cisgender gay and HIV activist in Greece, highlighting the main question around which this article revolves: What was the link between queer activism and HIV campaigns in Greece, and how were such potential synergies affected by local, national, and transnational developments? In focusing on queer activists, the article does not seek to reinforce the perception that there is an indelible link between gay men and HIV as well as AIDS. This idea has been at the heart of the stigmatization of gay men as superspreaders of HIV in Greece in the 1980s and 1990s, as the article shows. By contrast, I turn the tables and explore how queer activists discussed HIV and their sexuality and, crucially, whether they also engaged with heterosexual individuals in their safer sex campaigns. However, the reception of such mobilizations and, more broadly, the popularity of safer sex in Greece are beyond the scope of this article.