HIV in the Rust Belt

This project highlights the lives of activists and survivors of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the middle of the United States, a region oft-overlooked in HIV history. When HIV arrived in the Rust Belt, the region was challenged by severe economic decline and ongoing racial segregation but despite these challenges, people in Toledo, Ohio came together to create a grassroots hospice-turned-HIV service center, David’s House Compassion. David’s House, as it came to be known, was the product of a unique coalition with the region’s Catholic diocese and the local LGBTQ+ community. These short films tell this story.