Sean O'Brien Strub (born May 16, 1958) is an American writer, activist, politician and entrepreneur. He is a pioneer expert in mass-marketed fundraising for LGBT equality. In the early 1990s, he founded '' POZ'' magazine and ', (for people impacted by

HIV/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 ...

), ''Mamm'' (for women impacted by

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

), ''Real Health'' (an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

health magazine) and, from 2000 to 2008, he published '' Milford Magazine'' (a regional title distributed in the Delaware River Highlands area of north-east

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

). In 1996, Sean Strub moved to

Milford, Pennsylvania Milford is a borough that is located in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat. Its population was 1,103 at the time of the 2020 census. Situated near the upper Delaware River, Milford is part of the New York metropo ...

. He was formerly the owner of the Hotel Fauchere, a historic European-style boutique hotel in

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

that was a member of Relais & Chateaux. He is also the director of The Sero Project, a national network of people with HIV combating stigma and injustice. From 2016 to 2024, Sean Strub was the mayor of

, originally elected by the borough council to complete previous mayor Bo Fean's term. In collaboration with journalist Max Westerman, Strub released a documentary titled ''My Friend The Mayor'' centered around local politics in the US and his 2017 mayoral campaign. He ran for re-election in 2021 and won by a significant margin. On December 18th, 2024, Strub formally announced his resignation in a letter to the borough council. He is a long-term AIDS survivor and has been an outspoken advocate for the self-empowerment movement for people with HIV/AIDS. In 2009 he was president of Cable Positive, the cable and telecommunications' industry's AIDS response. From 2010 to 2012, he served on the board of directors of the Amsterdam-based Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and co-chaired their North American regional affiliate. He has been a leader in combating HIV-related criminalization and in 2010 launched the Positive Justice Project with the Center for HIV Law & Policy. In 1990, he ran for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

to represent

New York's 22nd congressional district New York's 22nd congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives currently represented by Democratic John Mannion. Significant cities in the district include Syracuse and Utica; with the newes ...

(which in those days included

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population is 338,329, making it the state's ...

and parts of Orange, Westchester and Sullivan Counties). He was the first openly HIV+ candidate for federal office in the U.S. and received 46% of the Democratic primary vote. He was a long-time member of ACT UP New York and, in 1992, produced an off-Broadway play, ''

The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me ''The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me'' is a semi-autobiographical, one-man show, written by Obie-winning actor and playwright David Drake. Broken up into a series of stories, Drake abstractly documents a gay man's journey of self-discovery, while al ...

'', written by and starring David Drake. His memoir, '' Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival'' (Scribner) was published in January 2014. Strub co-authored ''Rating America's Corporate Conscience'' (Addison-Wesley, 1985), a guide to corporate social responsibility, with Steve Lydenberg and

Alice Tepper Marlin Alice R. Tepper Marlin (born 1944) serves as President Emerita, Founder, and a member of the board of Social Accountability International (SAI), a standard-setting organization for improving workplaces and communities. She served as president and C ...

and ''Cracking the Corporate Closet'' (HarperBusiness, 1995) with Daniel B. Baker and Bill Henning. In 2014, Strub criticized

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID) director

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...

for "delaying promotion of an AIDS treatment that would have prevented tens of thousands of deaths in the first years of the epidemic." and accused him of "rewriting history." He is an inaugural member of the WikiQueer Global Advisory Board.

Miscellaneous

Strub heard the shots that killed John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, and watched police remove the wounded Lennon from his Manhattan apartment building, the famed Dakota on W.72nd Street. He was interviewed by television news crews shortly afterward. In 1981, Strub got playwright

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

to sign the first fundraising letter for the

Human Rights Campaign Fund The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LG ...

, a then-newly formed political action committee which grew to become the largest organization in the U.S. advocating for LGBT equality. In 1989, Strub asked pop artist

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

to create a logo and poster to launch

National Coming Out Day National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11 to support anyone "coming out of the closet". First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation s ...

, now also a part of the Human Rights Campaign. Strub was one of the AIDS activists who put a giant condom over then-US Senator

Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the Conservatism in the United States, conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the ...

's suburban Washington home in 1991.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strub, Sean 1958 births Living people American HIV/AIDS activists American gay writers People with HIV/AIDS American LGBTQ businesspeople LGBTQ people from Iowa Gay memoirists American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Male dramatists and playwrights