12/01/2025
Annually since 1988, December 1st has been observed as World AIDS Day, “a global movement to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS.”
During the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the Whitman-Walker Clinic (now Whitman-Walker Health) was at the forefront of the fight for Washingtonians. Its executive director at that time was Jim Graham, an immigrant and a gay man. Graham later went on to serve 16 years on the DC city council, representing Ward One from 1999 to 2015.
In a 2001 oral history interview conducted by Whitman-Walker, Graham reflected upon the early days of the battle against HIV and AIDS at the clinic. “The point is that we were planning for something that still hadn’t touched our lives. Which I saw it as something really significant because we were ahead of what would be a tidal wave. And much of the advantage of what we were able to subsequently do. The fact that we were out of the gate so quickly and competently, really mattered later on.”
The clinic did more than help with health care. On 34 occasions, Graham -- a lawyer by trade -- went to the sickbed of afflicted, dying people and assisted them in organizing their legal affairs, including their last wills and testaments. Around 1986 the clinic formally launched its legal program.
In 2018, not long after Graham’s death, Executive Director Don Blanchon opined, “Jim Graham courageously led Whitman-Walker Clinic [...] through the darkest hours of the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., during the 1980s and 1990s. He fought valiantly for others in the face of adversity and death. He crusaded for causes big and small that aided those most in need. He did so with a powerful life force fueled by his amazing intellect, boundless energy, and artful creativity. He was not just trying to end AIDS. He sought to eradicate injustice, discrimination, stigma, and inequality in our community. And he would expect — dare I say demand — that each one of us continue this quest of full equality and justice for all.”
