Unsung heroes: Gay physicians' lived journeys during the HIV/AIDS pandemic

Abstract

The HIV/AIDS pandemic was a major crisis at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. Such a defining moment in the history of health-related infections led to transformations in its proponents, as well as their medical practice. This research article, using a study consisting of semi-structured interviews with six Canadian gay physicians from different Canadian HIV/AIDS treatment centers, aims to offer insights into their lived journeys, from 1981 to 2009, while they attempted to treat, care for, and cure/heal their gay HIV/AIDS patients. The results of the study, deduced from a qualitative and interpretative data analysis, suggest that through reflection on their experiences during the HIV/AIDS pandemic, they transformed their personal and professional identities, and rethought their relationship with their patients, as well as their professional, pharmaceutical, and community networks. These results are testimonies from Canadian gay physicians who fought against the HIV/AIDS pandemic and who advocated for their gay HIV/AIDS patients. In fact, these results are evidence of an untold and valuable period in medical history. For some, it will serve as a reminder. For others, it will be foreign. It was a time marked by a major crisis that mobilized gay militant physicians who were personally and professionally affected, and who were forever transformed by their response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This is their hereto untold lived journeys.