In 1987, the FDA approved AZT, the first treatment for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). At the time, AIDS wasn't curable. Of the more than 32,000 Americans who had tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, almost 60% had died.
AZT offered the first glimmer of hope that we might one day stop AIDS.
Randy Gould
Randy Gould was only 12 years old in 1987. When he came out and started dating 16 years later, HIV was still a specter hanging over the gay community.
"I remember those early days of taking an HIV test and freaking out every single time," says Randy, who is now 47 and a sales executive in New York City. "Whenever I had a sore throat or a cough, I wondered, 'Do I have it?' "