"[9] In early 1981, reports began surfacing in San Francisco and New York City that a rare form of cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma was affecting young gay men.

[10] In response, 80 men gathered in New York writer Larry Kramer's apartment on August 11, 1981, to discuss the issue of "gay cancer" and to begin organizing efforts to raise money for research.

[14][15] Rodger McFarlane began a crisis counseling hotline that originated on his own home telephone, which ultimately became one of the organization's most effective tools for sharing information about AIDS.

Notably, Popham's knowledge shared during this forum was immortalized on film, signifying a momentous stride in the nascent endeavors to tackle the epidemic.

In an interview with The New York Times after McFarlane's death in May 2009, Kramer described how "single-handedly Rodger took this struggling ragtag group of really frightened and mostly young men, found us an office and set up all the programs.

On April 30, 1983, the GMHC sponsored the first major fund-raising event for AIDS – a benefit performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Within two years, GMHC was assisting heterosexual men and women (see Dennis Levy), hemophiliacs, intravenous drug users, and children.

From 1987 until his death from AIDS in 1989, Doctor Barry Gingell served as a medical director for the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

The book described the progress of the pandemic, blaming the government, especially the Reagan administration and Secretary of Health Margaret Heckler, for failing to respond.

[24] GMHC, along with several other organizations, boycotted the 1990 International AIDS Conference in San Francisco, California in protest of the federal travel ban on people with HIV entering the United States.

[25] Though representatives from GMHC did not attend the official event, they did participate in a smaller conference, for people who had boycotted, which took place simultaneously in San Francisco.

[26] The Fox Broadcasting Company donated the proceeds from the airing of the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London's Wembley Stadium to GMHC.

GMHC admitted that the posters were "more explicit" than what they had produced in the past and featured animated condoms, lubricant and messages aimed towards sexually active youth, with the slogan "Young!

[30] Fielding sought $1.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages, claiming that he was not given a fair chance to apply for a role within GMHC, as leadership was afraid that, due to his HIV-positive status, he would have to call in sick.

[39] In the 1990s a fundraising event on the Atlantic Ocean beach at Fire Island Pines, New York evolved into a major circuit party and developed a reputation for being connected with unsafe sex and recreational drug use.

Lawrence D. Mass, one of GMHC's founders, told the New York Times that the decision was "disturbing" and said the museum was practicing "real censorship and distortion of history.

[54] GMHC and other community groups also pushed back against efforts from federal prosecutors to distribute posters with the names and faces of known crystal meth dealers in gay neighborhoods, including Chelsea.

[59][60] Prior to the 2008 presidential election, GMHC released a report outlining the stances of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden on issues related to HIV/AIDS.

Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) moved to a new and expanded home consisting of 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of redesigned and renovated space at 446 West 33rd Street in Manhattan.

The Keith Haring Food Pantry Program will increase its capacity to provide grocery bags and nutrition counseling to more people in need.

[67][68] The ads featured Black and Latino same-sex couples embracing, holding hands and kissing and promoted HIV testing among gay men of color.

[71] GMHC joined an open letter from several nonprofit organizations urging the FDA to approve Truvada for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis in 2011.

[73] Francisco Roque, then the director of community health, said the ad campaign "paints this picture of gay men as these sort of disease-ridden vessels.

[76][77] In September 2013, GMHC announced that the organization and its CEO, Dr. Marjorie Hill, had "mutually decided" that they would part ways and that she would leave her role.

ACT UP member Peter Staley wrote in HuffPost, " I can't tell you how many gay men I know who feel that GMHC is no longer on the community's radar", while a feature in the New York Times also spoke to several leaders who questioned the organization's direction.

[82][83] GMHC joined a coalition of national LGBTQ+-serving organizations and issued an open letter seeking justice for Trayvon Martin in July 2013.

GMHC joined a coalition of AIDS organizations in signing an open letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging that it stop using stigmatizing language, including "unprotected anal sex" in its materials.

In order to keep up with the COVID-19 global pandemic GMHC has begun offering HIV testing at home to make sure people are sticking to social distance guidelines.

While GMHC cannot give out HIV medications such as PrEP or PEP they can help people find options at a lower cost once they have a prescription.