The Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) is one of the oldest and most prominent HIV/AIDS advocacy and service organizations in the United States. The organization is dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, providing support services for those affected, implementing prevention and outreach programs, and advocating for policies that enhance access to care and increase research funding. Founded in 1982 in New York City by Nathan Fain, Larry Kramer, Larry Mass, Paul Popham, Paul Rapoport, and Edmund White, GMHC emerged from a gathering of eighty men in writer Larry Kramer’s apartment. They convened to address the emerging health crisis, which was initially referred to as “gay cancer,” and to raise funds for research. This meeting took place shortly after the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its first warning about a rare form of pneumonia affecting a small group of young gay men in Los Angeles, a condition that would later be identified as AIDS-related.

Volunteer Rodger McFarlane established the world’s…