Random Devastating PhotosThat Single-Handedly Changed Public Opinion On AIDS Crisis (10 items)

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  (#1) David Kirby's Photo Was Published By LIFE In 1990

  In November of 1990, Life magazine published the haunting photo, which depicted David Kirby, a young man who was in a losing battle with AIDS, in the moments before his last breath. The picture was powerfully tragic – Kirby's thin limbs contorting as he stared into nothing, the faces of his family as they watched him suffer.

  The photo quickly became the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and was met with both adoration and immense controversy.
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  (#2) HIV And AIDS Were Widely Misunderstood And Overlooked In The 1980s

  HIV and AIDS were largely regarded as a problem solely for gay people. Because of the prejudices surrounding homosexuality, the suffering of those who were infected was widely overlooked, and at the time this photo was taken, activists were still lobbying for the government to speed up the development of new, life-saving drugs.

  It took years for the White House to create an office of National AIDS Policy, and Kirby never saw it happen in his lifetime.
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  (#3) Who Was David Kirby?

  David Kirby was a small-town boy from Ohio. In the 1980s, he became a gay activist and moved to California after falling out with his family. It was in the late '80s that Kirby learned he had contracted HIV. Though his parents were estranged, he got in touch, asking if he could come home.

  Kirby said he wanted to die with his family around him, and his parents welcomed him back with open arms. Near the end of his life, he ended up at Pater Noster House, an AIDS hospice in Columbus.
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  (#4) Photographer Therese Frare Started Volunteering At Pater Noster House

  Therese Frare's photography started as a personal project and ended with her image becoming one of the most famous photos of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Shortly after starting grad school at Ohio University, Frare began volunteering at Pater Noster House.

  While she was there, she became close friends with Peta, another volunteer, who was looking after David Kirby and some of the other patients.
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  (#5) Kirby's Parents Asked Frare To Come Inside The Room And Document His Last Moments

  According to Frare, who spoke about the photograph in an interview with TIME, staff members came and got Peta so he could be with David on the day of his death. Peta brought Frare with him, but she waited outside of the room, until Kirby's mom had a special request.

  I stayed outside David's room, minding my own business when David's mom came out and told me that the family wanted me to photograph people saying their final goodbyes. I went in and stood quietly in the corner, barely moving, watching and photographing the scene. Afterwards I knew, I absolutely knew, that something truly incredible had unfolded in that room, right in front of me.
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  (#6) Frare's Photo Won Awards For Bringing Humanity Into An Overlooked – And Ostracized –Issue

  Frare's image of Kirby helped bring humanity to a disease most people didn't think could ever affect them. It did this by showing the grief-stricken faces of Kirby's family – as well as David himself's suffering humanity – and it was powerful. It's estimated that Frare's image has been seen more than one billion times over the last 20 years.

  It appeared in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and TV stories, and Frare won numerous awards including the World Press Photo Award – but it wasn't without controversy.
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  (#7) The Haunting Image Was Colorized And Used In An Ad Campaign By Clothing Retailers Benetton – This Is Where Controversy Began

  When Frare's photograph was published in LIFE, she was met with a great deal of praise, but there was also immense backlash. Two years after publication, Benetton used a colorized version of the snap in an ad campaign. This raised concerns from Roman Catholics who felt like the photo was mocking the image of Mary cradling Jesus after his crucifixion. Frare couldn't even win with AIDS activists who claimed Benetton was exploiting the AIDS epidemic for profit, and the Terrence Higgins Trust, a famed AIDS charity, labeled the ad offensive and unethical.

  They demanded the advertisement be banned, while London's Sunday Times called for readers to boycott the brand. Major fashion magazines also refused to run the image. Marie Claire, Vogue, and Elle all banned it from print.
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  (#8) Therese Frare Never Profited From The Photo Despite Controversy

  When Frare was welcomed into Kirby's hospital room, she asked him if it was okay to take his picture. As an activist, Kirby wanted to get the word out about the devastation of AIDS and what it does to communities and families. He agreed to be photographed as long as Frare didn't profit from the photos.

  Frare has always kept her promise – but initially thought no one would ever see the picture anyway.
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  (#9) David Kirby's Mother Remained In Full Support Of The Benetton Campaign

  As it turned out, Benetton didn't just blindly use the haunting image of David Kirby. They got permission from his family who were completely behind the ad campaign. In an interview, Kay Kirby, David's mother, revealed that she had no reservations about letting Benneton use the photo in their ad. She said,

  My son more or less starved to death at the end. We just felt it was time that people saw the truth about AIDS, and if Benetton could help in that effort, fine. That ad was the last chance for people to see David — a marker, to show that he was once here, among us.
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  (#10) After David's Death, The Kirbys Made A Promise To Take Care Of Peta

  It wasn't long after Kirby's death and the media circus surrounding Frare's photograph that Peta, the reason the photo was made possible, fell ill. Peta had been HIV-positive while caring for David, and the Kirbys vowed to take care of Peta the way he had taken care of their son. The Kirbys spent time with Peta, comforting him and trying their best to relieve his pain and loneliness at the end. He passed away in 1992.

  Kay Kirby knew this would be her life path. She said she had "made up my mind when David was dying and Peta was helping to care for him, that when Peta's time came — and we all knew it would come — that we would care for him. There was never any question. We were going to take care of Peta. That was that."

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