Ruth Coker Burks’ life changed one afternoon in 1986 when she went to visit a friend with cancer in an Arkansas hospital. There, the 26-year-old happened upon a curious scene: a group of nurses drawing straws to see who would have to enter a room with a forbidding red tarpaulin hung over the door. Intrigue got the better of her, and she decided to investigate. Inside the room was Jimmy, a young man weighing about five stone, evidently in his final hours, and crying out for his mother.
Coker Burks rang his family home, only to be told that they had no interest in seeing him. “My son died eight years ago when he went gay,” his mother said tersely. For Coker Burks, there was nothing left to do, except the right thing. She held his hand and whispered reassurances into his ear. Jimmy, believing his ‘mama’ had finally come and Coker Burks didn’t contradict him died peacefully.