Jeremy Norman (L) and Derek Frost (R) in 1980, shortly before the AIDS epidemic hit. (Provided)
Derek Frost was filled with “terrible dread” when he received a phone call from his partner, Jeremy Norman, in April 1991.
Jeremy phoned from Miami to tell Derek that he was feeling unwell. He had a pain in his throat and he had developed sores around his mouth that just wouldn’t go away. Both men knew what these symptoms meant: after years of dodging HIV, the virus had come knocking at their door. Jeremy ultimately tested positive for HIV, while Derek – by some stroke of luck – tested negative.
Princess Diana. (Getty)
Princess Diana worked out a queer men’s gym because she “really liked gay guys” and she felt “at ease” around them, according to pioneering entrepreneur Jeremy Norman.
In the 1990s, Norman set up Soho Gyms, a chain that catered primarily to gay men – and Princess Diana, of course. She was a member of his Earl’s Court Gym at the time of her death, he said.
PinkNews.
“She really felt at ease with gay men, she could relate to them and she didn’t feel threatened by them in any way.
“They were just friends she could hang out with. And when we bought the Earl’s Court Gym when I was expanding the Soho Gyms group, she was a member there.”