Sean Strub, Pioneering Gay Activist, On New Memoir 'Body Counts,' And Recounting LGBT History

Sean Strub is a pioneering queer activist, deeply enmeshed in LGBT history. He's published an important new memoir, Body Counts, which has received accolades from Lily Tomlin, Gloria Steinem, historian Martin Duberman and many others, a riveting account of a pivotal time in the march for LGBT civil rights and sexual liberation and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

As a teenager fresh from Iowa, Strub went to work in Washington, D.C., in the 1970s, running the "senators only" elevator in the U.S. Captitol. He soon found himself at the forefront of the burgeoning gay groups in the nation's capitol.

After he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, he joined both the People With AIDS Coalition and the legendary direct action group ACT UP, helping to orchestrate some of the group's most controversial demonstrations. In 1990, Strub became the first openly HIV positive person to run for Congress and later founded the groundbreaking Poz magazine, which became a lifeline for people with HIV.

"We're in a look-back moment, where we are examining some of this history," he told me in an interview on SiriusXM Progress. "I think it's very important that those of us who were there, who can speak first hand, document our recollections."

Check out his video above to see an amazing account of queer history with some incredbile photos and footage, tracking critical moments in LGBT rights and the fight against AIDS.

 Michelangelo Signorile

 The Huffington Post