gasp… i’m so sorry about the minute-long blank screen at 1:12:00. i was editing this at like 4am and told myself i’d go back and fix that part where the camera glitched but i forgot to. god bless america and god bless the gays!

Hearing you say that activism is hard now and how what you did then wouldn't work now feels so validating. To have somebody who made a difference actually acknowledge the changing times and struggles is something we don't see often enough from the older generations. Thank you so much for that ❤

I can't believe I'm seeing an HIV positive old man, melts my heart to see him get this far in life and to know he fought for all of us too, incredible episode, incredible guest, just amazing.

Please remember a lot of us long term survivors are still here.

Media attention 4 years after the crisis started. Wow. Imagine if we JUST started reporting on covid. So heartbreaking to hear. ❤

I had never considered the aftermath of so many people who were convinced they were dying having to learn to live again in the wake of an immensely traumatic event, obviously I knew how horrific the aid’s crisis was but damn that’s an aspect I just didn’t really think about

They marched so we could fly and soar ❤

I am in my 40s, so I am between the two generations Peter and Matt represent. Part of my fear in coming out was the fear I could/would die of AIDS. I am so glad that because of people like Peter Staley, it's not like that anymore.

Took me a while to realize when he says "the f word" he probably doesn't mean fuck....

As a 26 year old woman who works for a nonprofit that serves people living with HIV, it was so important for me to watch this and hear his story. Thank you ❤

As someone who was living in New York in the 1980's as a gay man, seeing the decimation of a generation of my gay brothers and surviving, something that is still a mystery to me, I think about all of them every single day and miss them terribly. It's good to see Peter Staley who to me is a true hero to the gay community.

Just starting the video, but the book "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts should be essential reading for EVERYONE to understand the scope, impact, and social consequences of the AIDS Pandemic.

RIP Randy Shilts and all the other amazing people we've lost to this horrific illness, and anti-RIP to that monster Ronald Reagan.

I am in my mid 40s, and Peter was part of the queer generation before mine. We saw and benefited from their labor, learned about our sexual health, and became politicized across gender lines because of their courageous leadership. The antiretrovirals that he and other activists tirelessly advocated for became available just as I began exploring my own sexuality, and I survive because of Peter and his peers. I have felt a sense of responsibility to continue building on that legacy, rather than settle into contentment. While the organizing strategies must evolve - as he suggests - the awakening he helped stir back in the 1980s has guided me and many others who have gone on to contribute to other social movements.

Thanks to Peter, Act Up, all the gay men and women and the science community that helped a 24 year old in 1995 who contracted AIDS who continues on  today.  The trauma of that time unfortunately continues to plague me. I miss my tribe and my NYC that was electric, alive with so much soul. Forever grateful of that time and for the many who aren't with me today.  I miss you.

Peter is my hero. I fought as one of his and Larry’s minions in the streets of late-1980s US of Scarymerikkka.

It is chest-swelling to see him celebrated today for his history-altering and billions-of-lives-saving fierceness—and by an equally fierce kid like yourself.

And that you credit him with YOUR LIFE is not at all weird and not even a little bit hyperbole.

Thank you for your work. ❤️❤️❤️

this episode was so eye opening for me as a gen z gay. It’s kinda embarrassing how little i know about HIV/AIDS, because I thought everyone who got it passed away. Its so important to hear from people that survived it, as your stories are never heard enough

I knew a nurse who worked for the emergency dept during the very beginning of the AIDS crisis in NYC. No one knew what was going on and she said it was like living through an apocalypse everyday.

How to Survive a Plague is streaming for free right now if anyone is interested.

Peter Staley has been a hero of mine since I was a young teenager in the early '90s. I did my best to mirror his activism at my high school by bringing HIV and AIDS awareness to our faculty and students. It really wasn't part of our curriculum. Each year I'd fight to speak on World AIDS Day over the intercom during morning announcements and pay tribute to those affected. My friends and I would pass out pamphlets, red ribbons and condoms on holidays for donations to give to the local AIDS hospice. We were often featured in our school newspaper advocating for better sex education and safer sex. We tried so many other creative methods just to get the message out. To this day, I am still stunned that we often never received any backlash, especially being some geeky queer punks in South Texas, but Peter and ACT-UP (and yes, Madonna) were the blueprint for our cause. At 46, I still have immense gratitude for him, them, and all of the knowledge they gave us to share. I am so happy he is still around to listen to and learn from. (And still hot, too!!) Thanks, Matt. Great job!

OK Matt, I'll give you a little more back up on this story. During the 80's and the epidemic was cranking up, Me and everybody else would head for the local gay bar on Friday night. Soon as I would come up to the bar for my favorite brand of Scotch, I'd ask the bar tender have you seen so and so tonight. He'd say, "didn't you hear?" I'd say, "Hear what?" so and so died on Wednesday. After several more appearances at the bars, I wouldn't ask any more because I knew what the answer was. It got so bad Matt that I got so scared that I started to date a woman, forced myself to start a new life as a straight guy. We lived together, got married and I helped raise three kids. Fast forward 22 years later, my wife left me and me and my kids would be together from then on. Today, I have kids, grand kids and one great grand kid a 9 Y/O boy named Emerson. so now, I have to start all over again although, now, at my current age, I don't have the energy to go at the speed that I used to. Thought that this might give you some idea how bad it was.