The New York Times - November 25, 1985
Ron Alexander

Some weeks ago Jane Bernstein, the coordinator of the seminar at the 64-year-old private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, discussed raising money for victims of the recent earthquake in Mexico with her students. When one of them said that while he realized how devastating the earthquake was, AIDS was a problem that hit closer to home, his classmates agreed. (AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. After the immune system has been weakened, the body is prey to a host of opportunistic diseases.) "It was apparent that AIDS was something they had all been thinking about," Mrs. Bernstein said. "They were frightened, they were confused, they wanted to do something."

What they said they wanted to do, in addition to fund raising at school, was to raise the consciousness of their fellow students.

They all knew about Rock Hudson and many of them had seen "An Early Frost" on television, a movie about a young man who tells his parents that he has AIDS and that he is homosexual. Some had read articles on AIDS; most said they had not discussed the subject with their parents.

"We could have gone along with someone from the medical profession," Mrs. Bernstein said, "but the students wanted someone who would talk about the social impact of AIDS."

So it was that the other afternoon 120 students gathered in the school's auditorium to meet Howard Welsh and Rosemary Kuropat. Mr. Welsh, speaker's bureau coordinator of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, which was founded in 1982 as a support organization for homosexuals stricken with the disease (its services have since been extended to include anyone with AIDS), spoke about the history and transmissibilty of AIDS. He told the students that male homosexuals and bisexuals, intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs constitute the so-called AIDS risk groups and account for nearly all the cases. Of the more than 14,000 Americans diagnosed with AIDS as of mid-October, fewer than 1,000 were women.

Since September he has addressed the same subject at other private New York City schools, including Horace Mann in the Bronx and the New York Academy of Sciences in Manhattan. Miss Kuropat, a co-director of the National Gay Task Force, founded in 1973 to support civil rights for homosexuals, discussed the civil-rights implications that have surfaced along with the advent of the disease.

Before the assembly, which lasted half an hour and was followed by a question-and-answer period and an informal discussion, the two guests conferred with Brian R. Wright, Birch Wathen's headmaster. "How technical should we get with the students?" Mr. Welsh asked. "It can get pretty strong."

Dr. Wright, along with Kelly Jewett, the guidance director, told them to answer questions honestly and directly.

" It may be a controversial issue for some of them," said Dr. Wright, "but they have a sense of seriousness about the subject."

Mr. Welsh spoke of the plight of people with AIDS, of families and friends falling away, of the patients' needs for social, physical and financial support.

"AIDS," he told his audience, "is likely to remain incurable for a long time. The period from diagnosis to death can be from eight months to four years. AIDS is an incurable fatal disease that most often infects young people." The room was very still.

Mr. Welsh spoke about the symptoms of AIDS, of the HTLV-III virus that causes the disease, of the HTLV-III antibody test, of the fact that no one knows the length of the incubation period for the disease. He said the disease was not a "gay plague" and that more women were now contracting the disease.

When it came to the means by which AIDS is transferred, he said: "I used to use the term 'bodily fluid exchanges,' but that's too vague. AIDS is transmitted mostly by anal or oral homosexual sex and also, in some cases, vaginal intercourse and the sharing of dirty drug needles."

Mr. Welch spoke of the dangers of indiscriminate sex. "It's no longer 'Name, phone and I'll see you later.' It's also advisable to know if your sex partner is bisexual." The use of condoms, diaphragms or spermicides is, he said, extremely important. "The sexual revolution is over," he said. "It's unfortunate that your generation came along too late to enjoy its heyday." That elicited a burst of laughter from his audience.

He ended on a serious note: "It's your health you should be looking out for. It's your health we're looking out for."

Rosemary Kuropat talked about the dangers - being fired, evicted, having insurance canceled - that she said faced anyone with AIDS. "If you start abridging the rights of a few," she said, "you start abridging the rights of everyone. Cut off people with AIDS, then cut off all gay people and you diminish the rights of everyone."

Questions from the students followed. "Isn't AIDS more widespread in Europe than in this country?" one young man asked. "No," Mr. Welsh said.

Jon Housman and Lisa Gross, seniors, said they were especially concerned with the civil-rights issues. "I didn't realize all that about the insurance policies," Miss Gross said. "That's awful!" "Are people really being thrown out by their families and by their lovers?" someone else wanted to know.

"It's been our experience," Mr. Welsh said, "that many parents are more horrified that their son is gay than that he will die soon."

"My mother has spoken to me only once in five months since the time I told her I was taking a job at the N.G.T.F.," Miss Kuropat said softly.

Amy David, a sophomore, asked, "How do you prevent people from ostracizing someone with AIDS?"

"You have to discriminate between AIDS and AIDS anxiety," Mr. Welsh said.

For David Mager, a senior, the afternoon was "truly informative."

"They sorted out everything I was wondering about," he said.

Mr. Welsh said he was impressed with the group's "savvy and sophistication." For Miss Kuropat, the exchange "dispelled the rumor that anyone under 30 doesn't care about anybody but themselves."

"It's a difficult subject and the kids were great," she said.

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