The Sixth International Conference on AIDS, held in San Francisco in 1990, erupted in protest as activists took to the streets and the conference hall demanding a voice. Now, a new exhibition at the city s reopened main library looks back at that historic event.
Photographer Rick Gerharter, a freelancer whose photos have graced the pages of the Bay Area Reporter for decades, was in the streets and inside the convention with members of ACT UP and other activists, documenting their demonstration against discriminatory U.S. immigration policies, lack of attention to women with AIDS, and inadequate funding to support the San Francisco model of community-based care.