Forward Together

Saturday, June 28, 1986
The Concert Hall

The June 1986 dance matched the theme of Toronto Pride that year, also titled “Forward Together.” GCDC had a booth at that year’s Pride events, held in Toronto’s Cawthra Park with about 10,000 people in attendance. 2,240 people attended the Forward Together dance, netting a profit of $7,685.07.

It was in 1986 that the virus causing AIDS was identified as HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, and that the first commercial blood test for HIV was licensed by the American Food and Drug Administration. In 1986,  663 people were diagnosed with AIDS in Canada. That year the Canadian AIDS Society was (CAS) founded and Toronto hosted the first Canadian AIDS Research Conference.

“I remember going to the 519 in the early ‘80s. They described something that was happening in New York and San Francisco and the symptoms of something that was going through the community and they had no idea what it was, no idea. Whether it was a virus or maybe it was just the fact that people were using poppers and the poppers were killing all these people, they had no idea. Horrendously, there was a plague going through our community and they wanted people to be aware. Gradually, we sort of discovered what it was.

- Rob Stout, GCDC Organiser

The Toronto-based community coalition Persons with AIDS (PWA) joined the GCDC in November 1986. The group was raising money for people living with AIDS who were unable to work. According to Ron Merko, “PWA came to the GCDC because they knew that it was a source of funds. However, their staff were paid and they didn’t really have a volunteer base, so they were looking for people that would basically donate their shift credits. I certainly had friends that did become positive, so it’s something that I felt was important for me to bring my shift credits over to them.” 

"The dances offered relief. A chance to actually just enjoy yourself. Everything else was falling apart around us. At the time, I was doing all these bibliographies on AIDS so it just allowed me to forget about it. I started knowing people that were dying. I knew a lot of gay men because I was so involved in the ArQuives and a lot of them started to die. We’d go to an event and think, what happened to so-and-so, he disappeared. There were a lot of people who disappeared."

- Alan Miller, GCDC Volunteer