Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP)

Creator: Myra Billund-Phibbs

A Minnesota AIDS Project Pledgewalk in the 1990s. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Founded at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Minnesota by a small group of gay volunteers, the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) provided education, prevention resources, and services for HIV-positive people and people with AIDS during the tumultuous early years of the epidemic. Organized on a grassroots level within the communities most affected by the virus, MAP became a model for successful community responses to public health crises. Its activities led directly and indirectly to a huge expansion of services and organizations serving HIV-positive people and people with AIDS in Minnesota and beyond.

In 1982, mere months after the initial appearance of AIDS in New York, the outspoken gay activist Bruce Brockway became the first Minnesotan to be diagnosed with the disease. Within months, Brockway and a handful of other volunteers formed what became the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) in an attempt to respond to the devastation wreaked by the disease in Minneapolis’ gay community. In addition to Brockaway, original participants included Bill Runyon, Ford Campbell, Morris Floyd, Jon Whyte, Tom Wilson Weinberg, Brian Malloy, Eric Engstrom, Roy Schimdt, and Dennis Kearney. With their friends and lovers becoming sick and dying suddenly, and faced with stigma and public hysteria, they cared for their loved ones themselves. They also attempted to prevent the spread of what was eventually identified as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In its early years, MAP was a ragtag effort, staffed entirely by volunteers and driven by their passion. It drew strength from the militancy of the gay liberation movement of the 1970s and a belief in community support in the face of a frightening and mysterious epidemic. The organization operated out of volunteers’ homes, and began its work by opening a hotline. Volunteers answered callers’ questions about symptoms, explained how to care for people with HIV/AIDS, and gave out information on friendly health and social services in Minneapolis.

MAP’s work took a two-pronged approach: preventing the spread of HIV and caring for those already living with the virus. MAP volunteers provided palliative care to the dying and emotional support to their loved ones, responded to people in crisis, and founded a “buddy” system. Volunteers appointed as buddies accompanied people with HIV/AIDS to appointments and staved off the loneliness that often came with the stigmatizing diagnosis. In addition, the group was on the forefront of HIV prevention, giving seminars on safe-sex practices and devising an array of creative methods to spread the message far and wide.

Things changed drastically for MAP in 1985, when it began to get large grants from state and county health departments, enabling it to move into an official space, hire its first staff, and broaden its work. Prevention efforts ramped up; MAP did extensive outreach in the gay male community, specifically the bars and bathhouses that were considered central to the disease’s spread, while also educating countless mainstream organizations.

Along with being a main provider of safe-sex education, MAP remained a central force for support and advocacy for people with HIV/AIDS even as other organizations appeared in the mid-1980s. In a span of three years, it founded a housing program, an annual Pledgewalk for AIDS that served as both a celebration of life and an acknowledgment of collective grief, and a Life Enhancement Program for people with HIV/AIDS. To paraphrase a MAP volunteer in the late 1980s, the organization sought to pull back the “curtain of doom” that HIV/AIDS created, and foster connection, love, and joy among those directly and indirectly impacted by the disease.

Beginning in the early 1990s, changes in the landscape of the epidemic led to a shift in MAP’s role, ending its status as the central hub of the community response to HIV/AIDS. After thirty-five years of operation, MAP merged with the Rainbow Health Initiative to form JustUs Health in 2018.

Faced with a perplexing, terrifying illness ravaging an already small, marginalized community, the founders, volunteers, and staff of the Minnesota AIDS Project came up with a bold grassroots response, using compassion, mutual support, and the power of education, agitation, and insurrection to fight for themselves and their loved ones. In the 2020s, much of the LGBTQIA+ advocacy and public health infrastructure in Minnesota can be traced back to the seeds planted in those small meetings in the spring of 1983.

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Billund-Phibbs, Myra. "Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP)." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/thing/minnesota-aids-project-map

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First Published: May 26, 2020

Last Modified: April 15, 2025

Bibliography

“AIDS Cases in State Reaching a ‘Major Epidemic.’” Equal Time, April 29, 1987.

Cameron, Linda. Email with the author, January 24, 2020.

Campbell, Ford. Oral history Interview with the author, February 10, 2020.

Floyd, Morris. Phone interview with Lorraine Teel, October 17, 2003.

Heim, C. “AIDS and Bath Houses.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 19, 1986.

“HIV Law Faces Court Challenge.” Equal Time, July 22, 1987.

Jefferis, Michael. Oral history interview with the author, July 26, 2018.

JustUs Health. 30 Years of the Minnesota AIDS Walk.
https://www.justushealth.org/news/30-years-minnesota-aids-walk

JustUs Health. Our History: Formation of JustUs Health.
https://www.justushealth.mn/about-us/our-purpose/history

Kasel, Mark. “Minneapolis City Council Approves HIV Ordinance.” TC Gaze, April 7, 1988.

Kearney, Dennis. Phone interview with Lorraine Teel, October 29, 2003.

OH50
Not Waiting for a Cure Oral History Project
Oral History Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: This collection includes nineteen narrations documenting the memory of those working in and lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The narrators discuss the reasons for their actions, the effect the epidemic has had on their faith, their commitments to other issues, and their image of the United States. Interviews were conducted in 1994 and 1995, when the epidemic was entering its second decade.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10469040

Periodicals collection, Quatrefoil Library, Minneapolis.

Ritter, John. “The Bathhouse and AIDS Question.” Equal Time, December 17, 1986.

——— . “Health Commissioner’s Proposal on ‘High-Risk’ Establishments.” Equal Time, September 16, 1987.

Schroeder, Jim. “High Number of Residents Support Mandatory HIV Testing, Quarantine.” Equal Time, May 27, 1987.

——— . “KSTP-TV Ads Discount Condom Use: MAP Objects.” Equal Time, March 4, 1987.

Tretter 153
Minnesota AIDS Project records, 1979–2008
Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies
Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis
https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/13/resources/2009

Tretter 368
HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project
Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies
Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/13/resources/2123

Teel, Lorraine. Oral History Interview with the author, February 18, 2020.

Tyrrell, Gary. Oral History interview with the author, January 23, 2020.

Vertical files. James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis.
http://hclib.org/specialcollections

Whyte, John, and Tom Wilson Weinburg. Phone interview with Ann Rubin and Amy Weiss, October 20, 2003.

Related Resources

Primary

Brian J. Coyle papers, 1965–1991
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Personal, political, and official papers documenting the life and career of a gay activist and Minneapolis city council member.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00020.xml

Equal Time newspaper, 1981–1991
Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis

Donald Mackay Fraser papers, 1951–2004 (bulk 1962–1994)
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Papers of a Minneapolis lawyer and politician who served as Minnesota state senator, as US congressman from Minnesota’s fifth district, and as mayor of Minneapolis. The collection is particularly strong in its documentation of international relations, Democratic party policy and reform, human rights issues, environmental conservation, and women’s issues in the 1960s and 1970s.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00290.xml

GLC Voice newspaper, 1979–1992. Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies. Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis

Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department records, 1972–2004
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Records documenting the administration of this agency, whose mission is to strengthen individuals, families and communities by increasing safety and stability, promoting self-reliance and livable income, and improving the health of our communities by attaining the goals of protecting children and vulnerable adults, supporting communities and families in raising children who develop to their fullest potential, assuring that all people's basic needs are met, and building healthy communities and self-reliant individuals.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr00538.xml

Leo Treadway’s Minnesota GLBT Movement papers, 1964—2014
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Correspondence, agendas, bylaws, minutes, financial reports, notes, newsletters, brochures, miscellaneous printed matter, and newspaper clippings collected by a leading Minnesota gay rights activist.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00338.xml

Periodicals Collection. Quatrefoil Library, Minneapolis.

Secondary

Van Cleve, Stewart. Land of 10,000 Loves: A History of Queer Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

Web

Barth, Noah. "In Living Memory: A Memorial Outline for David Matson & AIDS in Minnesota." October 21, 2021.
https://issuu.com/noahbarth/docs/inlivingmemory

Minnesota Historical Society. Research guide. “AIDS Crisis in Minnesota.”
https://libguides.mnhs.org/AIDSCrisis/ov

Public Radio Exchange. “Generation AIDS: Minnesota’s HIV Crisis.”
https://www2.prx.org/pieces/283618-generation-aids-minnesota-s-hiv-aids-crisis

Related Images

Bruce Brockway, ca. 1980. Brockway co-founded the Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force with Thom Higgins in 1980. The name of the task force was adopted from the Minneapolis newspaper Positively Gay, which Brockway published between 1979 and 1980. From the Thom Higgins papers, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Bruce Brockway, the first Minnesotan to be diagnosed with AIDS and one of the founders of the Minnesota AIDS Project, ca. 1982. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Log (undated) used by early Minnesota AIDS Project volunteers to track their wholesale purchases of condoms for distribution as part of their HIV-prevention efforts. From box 58 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

The inside of a Minnesota AIDS Project pamphlet, produced ca. 1986, detailing the group’s HIV education and prevention efforts. From box 48 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

A flyer for a memorial vigil held by the Minnesota AIDS Project in 1986. From box 48 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

The cover of a Minnesota AIDS Project newsletter from 1987, reporting on the group’s safe-sex education initiatives. From box 31 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Lorraine Teel, the executive director of the Minnesota AIDS Project from 1989 to 2010, in 1990. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Unidentified man with Minnesota AIDS Project literature

An unidentified man holding Minnesota AIDS Project literature, ca. 1993. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project Pledgewalk volunteers

Two volunteers embrace at a Minnesota AIDS Project Pledgewalk, 1995. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

People walking during a Minnesota Aids Project Pledgewalk in the 1990s. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteer Carlton Hogan, undated. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteer Meagan Moglade, undated. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteer Richard Bradley, undated. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 19179–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project employees, undated. From box 36 of Tretter 153 (Minnesota AIDS Project records, 1979–2008) in the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteers marching in the 2013 Pride Parade

Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP)
Over the Rainbow: Queer and Trans History in Minnesota

More Information

https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/13/resources/2009

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteers

Minnesota AIDS Project volunteers at Twin Cities Pride on June 27, 2010. Photograph by Flickr user Randy Stern (CC BY-SA 2.).

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Articles

Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP)

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Minnesota AIDS Project volunteers marching in the 2013 Pride Parade

Minnesota AIDS Project marching in the Twin Cities Pride Parade on June 30, 2013. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Articles

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HIV/AIDS Crisis, 1981‒1997

Minnesota Men of Color

NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt display, Minneapolis

Bisexual Organizing Project

Over the Rainbow: Queer and Trans History in Minnesota

Coyle, Brian J. (1944–1991)

AIDS Conference Protest, St. Paul, 1987

Turning Point

In February of 1983, a small group of gay men begins meeting to organize a response to the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in Minneapolis. This group became the Minnesota AIDS Project, which in the coming years would provide crucial care and support, safe-sex education, and political advocacy for people with HIV/AIDS around the state.

Chronology

1981

The first cases of what will come to be known as AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) are identified in five gay men in New York City on June 5. By the end of the year, the disease spreads among gay men in New York and San Francisco.

1981

Bruce Brockway, an outspoken Minneapolis gay activist, is hospitalized in December with an array of mysterious conditions. Soon, he becomes the first Minnesotan to be diagnosed with AIDS. He died in 1984, after co-founding the Minnesota AIDS Project.

1983

As the community is rocked by AIDS diagnoses in February, sudden deaths, stigma, shame, and fear, a small group of gay men begins to organize support services for people with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. This will become the Minnesota AIDS Project.

1983

Articles of incorporation are filed on April 27 to create the “Minnesota AIDS Medical Project.” In its earliest years, the small group of volunteers provides emotional support to and advocates for people with HIV/AIDS in an otherwise barren landscape.

1985

MAP expands its prevention efforts, developing the “Captain Condom” mascot, beginning intensive volunteer outreach in gay bars and bathhouses, and distributing over one million condoms as HIV continues to spread at alarming rates.

1985

Funding from the Department of Health, Minneapolis, and Hennepin County enables MAP to expand into its own space, hire an executive director and other staff, and make forays into education and advocacy work.

1986

The one hundredth case of AIDS is reported in Minnesota on June 1.

1987

The first blood test for HIV is developed, greatly impacting the prevention efforts of MAP and other groups. Now that a person can know their HIV status before coming down with AIDS-related illnesses, the number of reported cases begins to rise.

1988

On March 30, the Minneapolis City Council passes a resolution to shutter the downtown area’s commercial sex businesses that cater to men seeking anonymous sex with other men in an effort to stop the spread of HIV.

1988

MAP hosts the first Pledgewalk for AIDS in Minnehaha Park. Continuing every year, the event becomes a commemoration of lives lost, a healing rite for a grieving community, and a vital fundraiser for the organization.

1989

The field of HIV/AIDS services, prevention, and education begins to expand and diversify in the Twin Cities. Additional organizations and improved AIDS competency in the health and social services systems at large change MAP’s position in the community.

1990

The Ryan White CARE Act is signed into law on August 18, increasing federal funding for HIV/AIDS services. MAP continues to broaden its work, expanding its housing program, safe-sex education, lobbying, and political advocacy for people with HIV/AIDS.

1994

MAP launches Mainline, its pioneering needle-exchange program, as part of a larger initiative to expand services to illicit drug users and other high-risk populations outside of the gay community.

1995

A new set of drugs, known as highly active antiretroviral therapy or “the cocktail,” is released, greatly improving quality of life for people with HIV/AIDS. With fewer complications and deaths from AIDS, the work of MAP and other organizations shifts.

2018

The Minnesota AIDS Project and the Rainbow Health Initiative merge to form JustUs Health, which provides education, services, and support to people with HIV/AIDS throughout Minnesota.

2019

JustUs Health changes its name to Rainbow Health.