Left: Noel Walsh; right: Hank Wilson
On a sad note, the AIDS activism community lost two genuine heros this past week — Irish AIDS activist Noel Walsh and stalwart of the San Francisco queer scene Hank Wilson.
Noel Walsh
Andy from UK Gay News sent an email yesterday to say that Noel Walsh, who had been attending an AIDS conference in Oslo last week, died in Amsterdam on his way home to Ireland. While I didn’t personally know Noel, I greatly admire the courage it must have taken to come out both as a gay and HIV positive man in Ireland, and then work tirelessly in Northern Ireland and The Republic for the rights and recognition of people with HIV and AIDS.
Fellow activist, Mick Quinlan stated, “Noel Walsh died suddenly last Saturday morning and his shocked family friends and life partner Maurice are making arrangements. The funeral will take place later this week possibly Friday 14th.”
According to UK Gay News, Walsh was closely connected with The Rainbow Project in Belfast and Derry, and also served as HIV editor of the Gay Community News in Dublin. In a statement from the Raibow Project, Sean Morrin said, “Noel dedicated his life to educating people, removing the stigma of HIV and worked tirelessly to promote the rights of people living with HIV. When he became HIV-positive in the 80s, rather than giving up, he taught himself about the disease and started helping others in a similar situation. Noel was an amazing human being and an inspiration who made a major contribution to L’Derry and our own fight against the prejudices experienced by HIV-positive people.”
A commenter at the popular Irish online forum, AngryPotato.net, said of Noel Walsh, “He was impossible to ignore, impossible to dislike and will be impossible to forget.”
Hank Wilson
My comrade and fellow activist/status-quo-disturber, Mike Petrelis sadly notes the passing of San Francisco queer activist and longtime AIDS survivor, Hank Wilson.
Hank championed both the gay and HIV/AIDS communities. His record of activism goes back four decades and includes the fight against the Briggs Initiative, in which the rights of gay and lesbian teachers to work in public schools was put to a popular vote, just as marriage equality was in this past election.
Blogger Badevan notes that Wilson “fought and rallied the community to force the SF Board of Education to add Sexual Orientation to the districts non-discrimination policy.”
San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano said of Wilson, “You’re really humbled by someone like Hank. He was Mother Teresa on testosterone.”
A temporary memorial/shrine has been set up at 18th & Castro in San Francisco for those wishing to pay their respects and leave flowers. A public memorial service will be announced. The tributes at the Petrelis Files and around the blogosphere show the depth of Hank Wilson’s impact on the community.
A reflection on this loss
It’s disheartening that, as time goes by, those of us living with AIDS and those who are still working for the cause lose more Hank Wilson’s and Noel Walsh’s with each passing year. These gentlemen are irreplaceable, and the loss of both of them highlights the challenges that we in the gay community and communities of color affected by AIDS still face.
Some people live longer lives with the latest medications, while many others struggle with the drugs’ side effects and the added complications of aging and other medical conditions — Hank Wilson died of cancer and Noel Walsh succumbed to a heart attack.
The infrastructure that was built up by our community to assist and enable people with AIDS is now underfunded, crumbling, and, in some cases, nearly bankrupt. Domestic funding that might have helped was diverted by the Bush Administration to faith-based campaigns of AIDS disinformation. Hopefully the Obama Administration will see fit to reverse this.
AIDS in the gay community seems to have become an all but invisible issue, because we’re fighting so many expensive battles on so many fronts these days. Economic times are tough all around so donations to local AIDS organizations are way down, and consequently services for people with AIDS are being limited or eliminated altogether.
I can’t close this without a call to action; that call would be this: Friends, if you can, dig a little deeper.
Comments
7 Comments so far. Comments are closed.Noel was a fixture and a friend.
Noel worked at the Cove Cafe in San Francisco for, I believe, nine years. His visa expired, Noel paid little attention when he was asked to join a friend on an Atlantis cruise. It was there we became good friends, but unfortunately the trip was to be Noel’s last U.S. experience. Customs nabbed him upon our return to Ft. Lauderdale and Noel was expelled to his native Ireland. I believe that was 1997.
Noel told me he had been married in Ireland and remained so at the time as the country didn’t allow for divorce back then.
I concur with the comments of A.P. – Noel was sexy, funny and and absurdly charming. I’m very sad to hear he’s gone.
Uncle Noely turned 21 and staid that age, only the laughter lines got bigger and he still had all is own hair.missed by all his cousins. love Keith
We at the Cove on Casto, send our condolences to all his family and all his friends. He was deeply loved and missed when he left us twelve years ago,and now we loose him again. As one commentator said “Noel was impossible to ignore, impossible to dislike, and will be impossible to forget.” Solange Darwish and all of us at the Cove
Here’s the information on services for Noel, from GCN:
The funeral arrangements of our deeply missed colleague, Noel Walsh, have been announced and are as follows…
Requiem mass 11am this Friday, November 14, at the Church of the Guardian Angel, Newtown, Park Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin.
Going to Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold’s Cross at 1pm.
Soup and sandwiches at PantiBar afterwards.
Friends and family welcome to wake Noel in his home at Riverside Grove, Newbridge, Co. Kildare on Thursday evening (Nov 13).
A Book of Condolances is available to sign at OUTHouse, Capel Street. Fowers from family only, donations to the Gay Men’s Health Project.
GCN will be closed on Friday, November 14.
Gay Community News in Dublin has a page up for comments.
S.F. Chronicle: Hank Wilson dies – gay liberation activist
“He was such an inspiration, Hank the lionhearted,” said San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who met Wilson in the mid-1970s when both were gay teachers and joined forces to fight for protections against discrimination in the public school system. “He was committed to social justice.”
Mr. Wilson had a hand in the creation of more than a dozen community organizations and events over the years, many of which still exist, although some changed names over time: Gay Teachers Coalition, Bay Area Gay Liberation, the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center, ACT UP, the AIDS Candlelight Vigil, Castro Street Safety Patrol, Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, Community United Against Violence, Butterfly Brigade, and the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, among others.
hi everyone im john my uncle noel was an amazing man.
this is a video of him dancing with my cuz at my brothers wedding back in sept of this year..
it made me sad to watch it after he passed away.. i look at it now and i laugh.. he really was full of life and in his death i have found out alot more about my uncle noel and how amazing a person he was there was so much i didn’t know about him..
well anyways here is the link to the vid
i hope you all enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl5iqyHOTrE
Thanks, John.
You Uncle Noel made a very positive impression on a lot of people and he’s missed. We need more heros like Noel who can stick to their guns, stand up for all our rights, and still keep a smile on their face.