This kind of horror-by-proxy happens all the time. Plenty of us are more than happy to rob graves, however, in an attempt to frighten gay men into acceptable behaviors. He was a man with the same passions and faults as anyone else, and I won’t use his death as a blunt instrument. Lesley didn’t perish so I could use him as a scare tactic. I will not dig up Lesley’s body and beat young gay men with his corpse. Today, there are little rituals I have to honor his memory, and I often write about him, the first of many friends lost to the epidemic.īut there’s something I will not do. Lesley was my closest friend to become sick in the 1980’s, and he fought bravely until his death from AIDS.
