Peter Staley’s life was going according to plan. It was 1985, and the 24-year-old was working as a bond trader on Wall Street in New York City. He dreamed of one day running for Congress, and later, maybe even the presidency.
But those plans came crashing down when Staley learned that he’d contracted H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. With no AIDS medications at the time, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence.
“I thought I had a few years,” says Staley, now 61.
He wasn’t alone. Four decades before the Covid-19 pandemic, the first cases of AIDS were officially reported in the U.S., in 1981. AIDS and H.I.V. would go on to wreak havoc—killing more than 270,000 people in the U.S. by 1988 and becoming, by 1992, the leading cause of death among Americans ages 25 to 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.).
With the odds stacked against him, Staley took action. He became one of the most prominent AIDS activists, helping to lead demonstrations that drew attention to the crisis and forced the federal government to ramp up its fight against the disease.
Peter Staley’s life was going according to plan. It was 1985, and the 24-year-old was working as a bond trader on Wall Street in New York City. He dreamed of one day running for Congress, and later, maybe even the presidency.
But those plans came crashing down when Staley learned that he’d contracted H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. With no AIDS medications at the time, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence.
“I thought I had a few years,” says Staley, now 61.
He wasn’t alone. Four decades before the Covid-19 pandemic, AIDS wreaked havoc. In 1981, the first cases of AIDS were officially reported in the United States. By 1988, more than 270,000 people in the U.S. had died from AIDS-related illnesses. By 1992, it was the leading cause of death among Americans ages 25 to 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.).
With the odds stacked against him, Staley took action. He became one of the most well-known AIDS activists. He helped lead demonstrations that drew attention to the crisis. These efforts forced the federal government to ramp up its fight against the disease.