4 Sep 1983 Los Angeles Times, Back Out of the Closet

18 May [no year ?1983]Glasgow Herald Researchers isolate virus—in homosexual disease hunt. Paris, Tuesday
RESEARCHERS at the Pasteur Institute working on AIDS, the so called homosexual disease that has hit the United States and recently appeared in France, have isolated a virus they say could be linked with the disease.
... So far, 541 people out of 1410 recorded cases in the US have died. In France, 15 people out of 15 cases have died, according to the research team. ...

[no day] Sep 1983 The Body Politic Aids as Metaphor by Bryan Teixeira (Vancouver social worker and theologian currently working towards his PhD in philosophy.
" ...In the Middle Ages, the leper was a social text in which corruption was made visible: ... an emblem of decay. Nothing is more punitive than to give disease a meaning — that meaning being invariably a moralistic one. Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance. Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor, 1979 "an intriguing little book."
The article summarises the stigma, cost of treatment, the causative organism.
" ... It must be clear from the above that AIDS is not a "gay disease". It is most likely a virus that spreads by the sharing of blood-based secretions, whether sexually of via blood and blood products.

31 Oct 1983 The Scotsman p2, 50pc rise in number of AIDS victims The number of cases of AIDS reported in Britain jumped by 50 per cent, from 16 to 24, in September, the Public Health Laboratory report in the British Medical Journal.

Aids Action Group: A.I.D.S. Media Report, Number 8
Compiled by the Hall-Carpenter Archives, February 1984. A consolidated list of references, to September 1983, is now available, with 400 entries.[cf below]

SCOTLAND: FIRST CASE--
19 Feb. [1984]: NotW [News of the World ] 'AIDS death mystery'. Non-gay man 47, first death in Scotland, at Glasgow's Western Infirmary, where he had been treated for four months.

18 Feb. [1984]: Sm [The Scotsman] 'AIDS death puzzles doctors' and WM [Western Mail, Cardiff] 'AIDS victim dies'. Quote Dr. Stephen BALL of Glasgow's W.I.: "As a public health question in this country, it doesn't exist," going on to imply that his may have been one of those sporadic cases which meet the official AIDS definition without being related to the principal outbreaks.

17 Feb. 1984, Daily Record p19  "MYSTERY OVER VICTIM OF GAY PLAGUE" by TOM GRANT.
The killer disease AIDS—known as the Gay Plague—has claimed its first victim in Scotland. But the 47-year old mans was NOT a homosexual. ... At least 14 cases have been reported in England but until not there had been no diagnosed cases in Scotland. ...The man who died had returned to Scotland after spending years in East Africa.

7 November, 1985 Letter from Michael Sabin, New York, whose friend Sean died on 7 Sept, 1985 "He was only 25 years old. I think that he was the bravest person I have ever known. He fought hard to stay and I fought with great courage. He survived PCP, Kaposi's sarcoma, herpes, cytomegalovirus infections in the colon and retina, and mycobacterium (avian TB) intercelluare for 14 months." The first letter to SHRG (8 Aug 1985)was asking about trials of drugs being carried out in Scotland. Drs. A. McMillan, Ivan Tait & others replied basically saying no trials were taking place in Scotland

11 Nov 1985 SHRG - from the General Secretary.

"OF CHARITY, YOU ARE ASKED TO REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS
SEAN M. CUNNINGHAM (AGED 25)
WHO DIED OF OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS AS A RESULT OF A. I. D. S.
IN NEW YORK CITY, 23 SEPETEMBER.
PLEASE ALSO REMEMBER HIS SURVIVING PARTNER, MICHAEL SABIN,
WITH ALL THOSE SUFFERING, WHO HAVE DIED, WHO HAVE CONTRACTED
A. I. D. S. AND THEIR LOVED ONES.

"Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O Lord, And Let Light
Everlasting Shire Upon Them."

R. I. P.

Jim McManus, Secretary
1 Dec 1985 SHRG from National Secretary
The following motion was passed unanimously as an Emergency Motion at the Forum of this organisation on Saturday 30 November 1985 in Glasgow.
1. SHRG recognises the work of Scottish Aids Monitor.
2 ... more government funding for medical research.
3... more funds for those working with individuals who are HTLVIII seropositive and persons with AIDS. ...

30 Jan 1986 Letter from Strathclyde Regional Council Jim Black, Senior Social Worker to Colleagues
RE: 'AIDS' TELEPHONE HELPLINE SERVICE. ...After meeting with people from the three main client groups (Haemophiliacs, Gays and Drug Community) it was suggested that consideration be given to the idea of starting the above service. ... open meeting for 27 Feb. 1986 in Strathclyde House, Glasgow.
... The Scottish AIDS Monitor Group have been informed by the SHHD that they will be given increased funding ... to expand work with AIDS and seropositive clients... Hoped they will provide financial backing for helpline.

27 Feb. 1986 Agenda for meeting — speakers Dermot Kennedy, Derek Ogg, Jim Black in Chair.

3 Jul. 1986 Seminar on Aids held by Greater Glasgow Health Board — speakers Drs. Dermot Kennedy, Campbell Love, Somerville, Pettigrew (Sick Children's Hospital)., Mr Jim Black, Dr. M. Dow (Principal Clinical Psychologist)

AIDS The Facts — Published by Scottish AIDS Monitor [leaflet]
" WHAT IS AIDS — ... condition which causes the body's natural defences against the disease to become so weak that the sufferer becomes victim to various infections inclusive of pneumonia and cancer.
... most prevalent in US ... at least 2,500 reported cases of which 1,700 have been in New York State of California. Outside of the US AIDS cases have been reported in 21 other counties but only a total of 156 cases are officially reported in all those countries.
So far in the US 41% of those having AIDS have died (1,072). ...
In US 70% of victims of AIDS are homosexual males. Other high risk groups include Haitians (4.9%) intravenous drug abusers (17%) and haemophiliacs (0.6%).

In the United Kingdom as at February 1984, there ave been 33 reported cases of AIDS of whom 25 are gay males. There are no reported or suspected AIDS cases in Scotland as at 1 February, 1984, 18 of the British cases have now died.
STOP PRESS
SCOTLAND'S FIRST AIDS DEATH REPORTED — A 47 year old Glasgow male ... not homosexual of a member of any high risk group. He had lived for a number of years in Africa. Medical authorities are on record as saying that this was an extremely rare case and that the homosexual community in Scotland have no cause for alarm.
UPDATE — U.K. AIDS Victims now total 38 with 21 deaths.

17 August [no year?1986] Poster — AIDS and the MEDIA a Discussion (at Lesbian and Gay Centre, Edinburgh)
Chair: Ian Dunn (Gay Scotland Magazine)
Panel: Nicholas de Jongh (Guardian Theatre Critic)
Alison Keiller (Community Drugs Project)
Tom Castle (The Event Group)
Will Mallinson (Scottish AIDS Monitor)
For information contact Event Group or Elizabeth Namita.

45 rpm record "Give a Helping Hand" [dated] Nov? 85 by ALLIANCE,
Rick Latham — drums percussions & producer.
Side A - Give a helping hand
Side B — The saddest and loneliest world.
Produced on Copenhagen.

ACT-UP, Edinburgh "After 10 years — 1 person infected every minute, 4 AIDS deaths a day in Britain ... WE DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT HE GOVERNMENT THINKS IT IS DOINGS WHEN THERE ARE 4 AIDS DEATHS A DAY AND A POSSIBLE 50,000 PEOPLE INFECTED WITH HIV IN BRITAIN.
... demonstration outside Scottish Office 1 June [no year ?1991]

10 Dec 1992 Capital Gay
Sunday Times slams 'vulgar carnival' in attack on campaigner
MEP AND veteran gay rights campainer Janey Buchan has issued an impassioned plea to The Sunday Times to stop arguing that HIV does not cause AIDS and the that the disease is a myth in Africa. In response, the paper launched a savage attack on both Buchan and the concept of World AIDS Day.
In an open question to Sunday Times owner Rupert Murdoch, editor Andrew Neil and science correspondent Neville Hodgkinson, Buchan, the Labour MEP for Glasgow and honorary president of the lesbian, gay and bisexual organisation Outright Scotland, demanded "Why are you doing this? Why are you not allowing the majority view — the well-researched and well debated view — at least occasionally a fair shout?"

Scottish AIDS Monitor (SAM) Annual Report 1991/92
"About SAM
Scottish AIDS Monitor is Scotland's national HIV charity. Since 1983, we have been combating the HIV problem in Scotland by providing preventative HIV education and by offering emotional and practical support to people with HIV and those close to them. SAM is supported by a professional staff team, numerous consultants, and 250 volunteers deploying services based in Lothian, Strathclyde, Tayside and Highlands. SAM is a large agency which nonetheless stresses the personal approach, the practical solution, and the primacy of the individual.
SAM is core funded by the Scottish Office Section 16 grand, with additional funding for locally based projects being provided by Health Board and Social Work sources. Shortfall to cover projected expenditure is made up from public fundraising, including the Hardship Fund for people with HIV, which currently distributes more than £20,000 per year in individual grants to people experiencing financial difficulty in their illness.
In its nine years of existence, SAM has grown from a small group of concerned individuals to a large and respected agency in the field of HIV and AIDS. A measure of the account that is taken of SAM's experience and expertise can be gained from the fact that SAM's Director was one of the two voluntary sector representative invited to join the Secretary of State AIDS Task Force, which produced its report and recommendations in 1992.
THE SAM PHILOSOPHY
At all levels, SAM aims to empower people with HIV disease to take the lead in making informed choices about their lives. Our approach to direct service provision is client-led, and counseling and befriending is offered on a non-directive, non-judgemental basis. SAM's philosophy in the fields of prevention is bases on a harm reduction principle; we do not, for instance, believe that abstinence to be a realistic choice for most people in protecting themselves from HIV, and our work with drug users is aimed primarily at encouraging safer injecting and alternatives to injection.

Training and Support
This year could be seen as one of steady development. National development continued with the production of training materials such as the Buddy Training Manual and guides to Family Support Groups, Counseling Drug Users, and Women and Contraception. The number of SAM internal training videos increased with topics covering heterosexual HIV spread, and violence within relationships. The system of facilitation was further refined and SAM's National Facilitators meeting highlighted not merely their need for support but the need to try co-facilitation, facilitators have time out, and looking towards ending their work.