Ken Ramsauer

Ken Ramsauer (December 26, 1954 – May 24, 1983) was an American businessperson. He was a hardware store manager and freelance lighting designer who became the first person with AIDS to be the subject of a national network television news special when he was interviewed by Geraldo Rivera on the 20/20 television program broadcast four days before his death in 1983.[1][2] At the time little was known of AIDS, including its causation. A candlelight vigil was held in Central Park commemorating his life and death, opened by New York Mayor Ed Koch and attracting c. 1,500 people.[3] The vigil was later covered in the book version of How to Survive a Plague.[4] Around 600 individuals were known to have died from AIDS at the time of Ramsauer's death, and their names were read aloud at the vigil.[5] The vigil was called "the first large gathering acknowledging the existence of the epidemic".[6]

At the time of his death, the public was advised by authorities to avoid contact with individuals infected with HIV.[2] Ramsauer recalled in the 20/20 interview how he was treated by hospital staff, whom he overheard asking "I wonder how long the faggot in 208 is going to last."[4] Some sources have stated that Ramsauer was sought out by 20/20 producers for the shocking appearance of a man near death, seeking "the most debilitated people with AIDS they could find".[7] Ramsauer's treatment by the press was "decisively deconstructed"[8] in Bright Eyes, a documentary by writer and filmmaker Stuart Marshall describing "the pathology of fear and manipulation surrounding the AIDS crisis".[9]

References
  1. Altman, Dennis (1986), AIDS and the New Puritanism, Pluto Press, p. 18, ISBN 9780745300122
  2. Gruson, Lindsey (1983-06-14). "1,500 ATTEND CENTRAL PARK MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR AIDS VICTIM". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  3. Julis Genachowski (22 June 1983), "1500 mourn deaths of those with AIDS", Columbia Spectator
  4. David France (November 16, 2016), "Life in the Plague Years", New York
  5. Keith Duggan (June 26, 2013), "Death, fear and misinformation on Aids cut to the core of 1980s Big Apple: An exhibitionabout the early years of the Aids crisis reflects a period of despair", The Irish Times
  6. Steve Silberman (December 7, 2016), "The unlikely coalition that put the brakes on Aids", Financial Times (book review of How to Survive a Plague)
  7. Miller, James L. (1992), Fluid exchanges: artists and critics in the AIDS crisis, University of Toronto Press, p. 32, ISBN 9780802058928
  8. Creekmur, C.K.; Doty, A. (1995). Out in Culture: Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Essays on Popular Culture. Duke University Press. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-8223-1541-4.
  9. Stuart Marshall, Video Data Bank School of the Art Institute of Chicago, retrieved 2017-06-09
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