Brian Hamilton, 28, who led the battle to force the Illinois Department of Public Aid to pay for the experimental drug AZT in its use by AIDS patients, died Sunday in Illinois Masonic Medical Center of complications from the disease.
Mr. Hamilton went public when he was diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. He told of the struggles he faced in living with the disease. He testified before local, state and federal officials about housing, insurance and job discrimination.
In October, he told federal Centers for Disease Control officials at a hearing in Chicago that ”unless something is done at the federal level, you will continue to have physicians refusing to treat AIDS patients, people losing their jobs and getting kicked out of their apartments.”
Mr. Hamilton was one of two AIDS patients who retained an attorney to bring a class-action lawsuit against the state Public Aid Department to force it to allow Medicaid reimbursement for AZT. In May, two months after the federal government approved use of the drug and before the suit could be filed, Illinois became the 42d state to allow public funds to pay for AZT. ubio: Allowing Iran Control of Hormuz a ‘Dangerous Precnt’
”Brian was not only `out` as a gay man, but in a repressive political environment, he was courageous in talking about his diagnosis and his struggles as a person living with AIDS,” said Gabor, chairman of the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Persons with AIDS. ”He was willing to take the risks involved. He was held in regard as a leader, mentor, confidant of his brothers in the illness.”
Just before his death, Mr. Hamilton was working with Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) on drafting an ordinance that would ban discrimination against people with AIDS.
Ronald Guidizi
BRIAN HAMILTON; LED AIDS CRUSADE
PUBLISHED: April 15, 1988 at 1:00 AM CDT | UPDATED: August 8, 2021 at 8:42 PM CDT (Chicago Tribune: BRIAN HAMILTON; LED AIDS CRUSADE – Chicago Tribune)
Brian Hamilton, 28, who led the battle to force the Illinois Department of Public Aid to pay for the experimental drug AZT in its use by AIDS patients, died Sunday in Illinois Masonic Medical Center of complications from the disease.
Mr. Hamilton went public when he was diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. He told of the struggles he faced in living with the disease. He testified before local, state and federal officials about housing, insurance and job discrimination.
In October, he told federal Centers for Disease Control officials at a hearing in Chicago that ”unless something is done at the federal level, you will continue to have physicians refusing to treat AIDS patients, people losing their jobs and getting kicked out of their apartments.”
Mr. Hamilton was one of two AIDS patients who retained an attorney to bring a class-action lawsuit against the state Public Aid Department to force it to allow Medicaid reimbursement for AZT. In May, two months after the federal government approved use of the drug and before the suit could be filed, Illinois became the 42d state to allow public funds to pay for AZT. ubio: Allowing Iran Control of Hormuz a ‘Dangerous Precnt’
”Brian was not only `out` as a gay man, but in a repressive political environment, he was courageous in talking about his diagnosis and his struggles as a person living with AIDS,” said Gabor, chairman of the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Persons with AIDS. ”He was willing to take the risks involved. He was held in regard as a leader, mentor, confidant of his brothers in the illness.”
Just before his death, Mr. Hamilton was working with Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) on drafting an ordinance that would ban discrimination against people with AIDS.