Dr. Michael Gottlieb on Elizabeth Taylor’s AIDS activism: “The advances in treatment that we have today are due in no small part to her efforts in promoting research.”

Journalist Karen Ocamb has shared this fascinating article written for Frontiers IN LA by Dr. Michael Gottlieb.

He was an ambitious 33-year-old assistant professor at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center when he wrote an article published on June 5, 1981 by the Centers for Disease Control titled “Pneumocystis Pneumonia” identifying AIDS as a new disease.

Gottlieb was Rock Hudson’s physician when he was disagnosed with AIDS and along with Elizabeth Taylor and Mathilde Krim, was one of the founders of the American Foundation of AIDS Research (AmFAR).

He writes about Miss Taylor’s AIDS work from the early days until her death last month:

In 2006, I chuckled when I heard Elizabeth Taylor respond to Larry King’s question on CNN about how she got involved with AIDS. Her answer: “I called a doctor friend of mine, Michael Gottlieb, and said ‘what can I do?’”

As much as I would like to take the credit, the reality was more complicated. Rock Hudson and Elizabeth had been friends since the days when they starred in the film Giant, and she had many other gay friends who were already affected by or living in fear of HIV. She had seen firsthand the devastation of the disease when she visited Rock at the UCLA Medical Center.

Elizabeth was very aware of the injustice of homophobia, and instinctively knew that prejudice explained why AIDS was being ignored. Rock’s diagnosis was a pivotal moment in the epidemic; an opportunity to start up a national foundation to raise awareness and press the government for action. Elizabeth took up the cause and stayed with it for 25 years with characteristic tenacity.

It should be noted that she had the courage to take up the cause at a time when AIDS was very unpopular. Young people may not be aware that as late as 1987 there was a California ballot proposition that, among other things, would have prohibited HIV-positive patients from working in restaurants. It was endorsed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian and nearly passed. Elizabeth was the first celebrity AIDS activist to become a public spokesperson when we founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). Her involvement was a revolutionary event, a game-changer on par with Rock’s disclosure.

And she was perfect in the role. She was beautiful, eloquent and compassionate in making the case for more federal and private funding for research and care. The adoring public that had followed her career and the ups and downs of her personal life saw how deeply committed she was to justice and compassion for people with HIV/AIDS and started listening. Prejudice toward people with AIDS slowly began to soften and was replaced with at least some degree of empathy. It was Elizabeth who finally coaxed President Ronald Reagan into finally saying the word “AIDS,” seven years into his presidency.

I traveled with her to Washington to lobby Sens. Orrin Hatch and Fritz Hollings for federal funding. Although I was the AIDS discoverer and expert, I received absolutely no attention or respect whatsoever from the senators. Elizabeth wowed them with her glamour, good humor and charm. Her star power focused their attention on what needed to be done.

The advances in treatment that we have today are due in no small part to her efforts in promoting research. Other celebrities have generously lent their names to the AIDS cause, but no one will ever come close to her prominence. When the final chapter in the history of the epidemic is written, Elizabeth Taylor will stand as a heroine above all others.