Alison L. Gertz (February 27, 1966 – August 8, 1992) was an American

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

activist in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gertz died of AIDS-related

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Early life

Gertz was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and was raised in an apartment on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

. She was the only child of Jerrold Gertz, a real estate executive, and his wife Carol, the co-founder (with Adriana Mnuchin, wife of Robert Mnuchin) of a woman's clothing store chain, ''Tennis Lady''. She attended the

Horace Mann School Horace Mann School (also known as Horace Mann or HM) is an American private, independent college-preparatory school in the Bronx, founded in 1887. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from the New Yo ...

, and later studied art at Parsons The New School for Design.

Diagnosis

In summer 1988, Gertz developed a persistent fever and chronic diarrhea. She was hospitalized and underwent testing to determine the cause of her illness. Gertz was never tested for AIDS because doctors did not consider her to be in a "high-risk group" for the disease. Two weeks later, she developed

. A bronchoscopy revealed that Gertz had AIDS. Gertz later found out that she had contracted HIV from a 27-year-old man named Cort Brown. He was a bisexual bartender whom Gertz met at

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

when she was 16. They had their first and only sexual encounter in 1982. He died of AIDS in 1988.

Activism

In 1989, Gertz chose to publicly share her story and did an interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. She hoped to educate others about AIDS and dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding the disease. She stated:

All the AIDS articles are about homosexuals or poor people on drugs, and unfortunately a lot of people just flip by them. They think it doesn't apply to them. They can't turn the page on me. I could be one of them, or their daughter. They have to deal with this. I want to talk to these kids who think they're immortal. I want to tell them: I'm heterosexual, and it took only one time for me.

She became an AIDS activist, appearing on numerous television shows and also speaking with teenagers on the subject of

safe sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer ...

. Gertz and her parents also founded The AIDS groups Concerned Parents for AIDS Research and Love Heals. In 1989, Gertz's foundation, Love Heals, along with Martin Himmel Health Foundation, hired Tony Schwartz to create public service announcements on AIDS awareness. The scripts and correspondence are housed at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in the Tony Schwartz Collection. During Gertz's time as an activist, she was voted Woman of the Year by ''Esquire'' magazine and received the Secretary's Award for Excellence in Public Service from the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

. In March 1992, ABC aired a

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

based on her life, starring Molly Ringwald. In the 24 hours after the movie aired, the federal AIDS hotline received a record 189,251 calls.

Death

On August 8, 1992, Gertz died of AIDS-related

at her family's summer home in Westhampton Beach, New York, at the age of 26. A memorial service for Gertz was held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on September 24, 1992, in Manhattan.

In popular culture

Gertz was referred to in the song "Life Support" from the rock opera '' Rent''. At the beginning of the song, various members of the group say their names. Jonathan Larson used the names of his HIV-positive friends as the characters in this song. At the beginning of the song, the character who refers to herself as "Ali" was named after Gertz. An episode of ''

Beverly Hills 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'' entitled "Isn't It Romantic?" was inspired by Gertz's story.

References

External links

*
GMHC ACRIA now own Ali Gertz’s Love Heals organization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gertz, Alison 1966 births 1992 deaths American HIV/AIDS activists AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) American health activists Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) Horace Mann School alumni Parsons School of Design alumni People from the Upper East Side Activists from New York (state)