How a group of lesbians rallied together during the AIDS crisis
The Blood Sisters was a group a lesbians who provided care during the AIDs crisis. (The Lambda Archives)
Today is World AIDS Day and it is important to remember the struggles the LGBTQ+ community faced at the height of the AIDS crisis, including those who rallied together to help their community.
In fact, did you know that one group of lesbians played a vital role in saving lives of countless people during the crisis by holding blood drives?
Called the ‘Blood Sisters’, this group of lesbians provided vital support to AIDS patients during the 1980s when the HIV epidemic first broke out.
Many communities suffered immense hardship, anxiety, and loss during the AIDS crisis.
At the time, there was no treatment or cure for AIDS and prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community led to many not being able to receive care and dying.
Many politicians and broadcasters called the disease a “gay plague”, further perpetuating the stigma against the LGBTQ+ community.
Two years after the crisis began, men who had sex with men were banned from giving blood – a requirement that has since been relaxed somewhat – but women who had sex with other women were not subject to the same restrictions.
This led to a severe shortage in blood for lifesaving transfusions, leading the Blood Sisters to begin their own grassroots blood drives.
The group started out in San Diego, launched by Barbara Vick and her partner, and held their first drive in 1983 at the San Diego blood bank.
Almost 200 lesbians turned up to give blood, resulting in 130 donations, leading to a wave of blood drives across the United States hosted by lesbian and gay religious congregations.
“There was a powerlessness everybody felt, but the lesbian community seemed immune to the disease. I don’t want to say there was guilt, but you look at counterparts bearing this burden for no reason. At that time, women had less to give economically, but blood is such a basic thing,” Vick previously said of why she started the group.
The Blood Sisters were supported by a group of gay men who called themselves ‘Little Brothers’, who provided transportation for lesbians to get to the blood drives, gave the women food, and enlisted gay bars to provide free drinks for the Blood Sisters.
Beyond just organising blood drives, many lesbians also stepped in as caregivers by volunteering in hospitals and clinics as well as raising money to combat the epidemic.
Many AIDS patients felt alone, rejected by families and were lacking in any kind of emotional support, so the Blood Sisters were able to act with compassion and empathy by providing that care.
The Blood Sisters were awarded for their bravery and life-saving measures in 1984 by the National Gay Task Force, and continued to provide blood drives until 1993 when the group disbanded.
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