New Book Examines Straight Women's Role In Early AIDS Crisis

A new book is the first to showcase a captivating chapter in American women's history and in the AIDS crisis. FagHags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community (King Company Publishing, $16.99) shines a light on the courage, defiance, and compassion displayed by heterosexual women who came forth when the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s was decimating both the gay community and communities of color across America.

Facing public ridicule and censure, these women nonetheless took a stand and became angels of mercy, caring for the sick and dying, while also fearlessly lobbying for treatment and drug policy reform to help people with AIDS who faced stigma and discrimination.

FagHags, Divas and Moms was written by longtime author and essayist Victoria Noe, a veteran member of Chicago's AIDS community. Noe had been a fundraiser for AIDS service organizations and had lost scores of friends to the epidemic. She began working on this book five years ago, after realizing that no one else had chronicled the stories of straight women who became valued allies to shunned members of the HIV/AIDS community.

"Until now, the story of the AIDS epidemic has largely been told by and about white gay men," Ms. Noe observed. "I wrote FagHags, Divas and Moms to honor the courageous work of straight women around the globe who helped battle this epidemic - as well as the ignorance and apathy that fueled it. It's time these heroines were restored to the history of HIV/AIDS. I intend for my book to become the Hidden Figures for the AIDS community."

FagHags, Divas and Moms profiles the famous and unknown who made a difference. There are Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana, who leveraged their fame to bring attention to this global health crisis. Also given their due are the women of the Junior League, who confounded expectations and pitched in. We meet unsung heroes like Chicago's Rosa E. Martinez-Colón, who rushed to the aid of Puerto Rican men felled by the plague. We learn of the female powerhouses behind the Red Pump Project whose work helped educate women in African American communities. We learn of the work of Trudy James of Arkansas, who connected volunteers in faith communities to people with AIDS. We meet Martha Cameron, savior to HIV-infected children in Zambia, as well as the fiery and pioneering Iris De La Cruz who spoke up for Latinx people with HIV in New York City and beyond.

Victoria Noe's book honors straight women in all walks of life - from the medical establishment to the spiritual community, from artists to caregivers - who simply refused to stand by and do nothing as others suffered.

Lavishly illustrated with black-and-white photos of the women who made a difference, Fag Hags, Divas and Moms is an unforgettable history lesson, a memorial to the casualties of the epidemic, and an inspiration to the next generation of HIV/AIDS researchers, lobbyists, caregivers and activists.

"Fag Hags, Divas and Moms is clear-eyed in telling its story, despite the emotional content of the profiles. It truly engages the reader -- with facts, not sentimentality. I learned so much I didn't know before. This is an impressive and important work." -M.K. Czerwiec, author of Taking Turns: Stories from HIV Care

About the Author: A member of Chicago's theater community, Victoria Noe shifted her priorities with the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, becoming a fundraising consultant for AIDS service organizations. By 1994, she had burned out and turned to general sales work. But a concussion sidelined her career. While recuperating, Noe began writing personal essays on grief that evolved into a series of six well-received books, beginning in 2013 with Friend Grief and Anger: When Your Friend Dies and No One Gives A Damn, followed by Friend Grief and AIDS: Thirty Years of Burying Our Friends and Friend Grief and 9/11: The Forgotten Mourners. In 2015, Noe was named Library Journal's first SELF-e Ambassador, promoting self-published e-books in American libraries. Her essay "Long-Term Survivor" won the 2015 Christopher Hewitt Award for Creative Nonfiction from A&U Magazine. A member of ACT UP New York, Noe also lectures on moral injury among HIV long-term survivors. She lives in Chicago.