Keep a Child Alive

There is nothing like a Dame - especially this one. Elizabeth Taylor, AIDS Warrior dead at 79.

Elizabeth Taylor was considered one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses but to us at Keep a Child Alive, she was one of the greatest AIDS warriors. In the early 80s as the unknown virus began to spread, there was much stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS but Elizabeth Taylor was not shy of controversy and spoke out against the fear associated with the disease after her friend Rock Hudson died of it alone in Paris, a handsome man faded to a skeleton.

Galvanized Elizabeth Taylor then founded AmFar, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and was a great supporter of my then charity, the Red Hot Organization as it steered its first benefit, Red Hot + Blue through the quagmire of ignorance, prejudice and stigma. In return and because major funds for research was so desperately needed to find drugs to prevent the unstoppable number of deaths I was able to direct $1 million dollars to AmFar as its first grant.

Elizabeth hosted an event in Los Angeles, sponsored by Entertainment Weekly to celebrate our work, which was of course full of lush diamonds and many many laughs.  She was a rollicking good time.  Natural, normal and very very funny.  I was invited to her 65th birthday party at Disneyland and rubbed shoulders with Richard Gere, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Dennis Hopper and many more great people who supported her work with AIDS.  She was indeed a voice for gay men and like Madonna you could mistake her for one via her vernacular. 

In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) to raise funds and awareness for those living with HIV/AIDS with a focus on direct care and prevention education on the pandemic. She covered all underwriting costs for raising and administering funds, allowing for 100% of the public’s donations to be directly served to those living with HIV/AIDS under the Foundation’s care. Over the past 20 years, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation has raised and provided $12 million in grants to various AIDS organizations worldwide.

On March 23rd 2011, we lost this AIDS warrior woman who fought for so long in the battle against AIDS: against stigma, against fear, against discrimination and to provide love and support to all. She will be dearly missed but always remembered. 

This was one sassy Dame and I salute her. 

Leigh Blake
Co-Founder & President
Keep a Child Alive