In spring 1971, Basile married Mary Ann Pryor and moved to Washington, DC, where he worked at ACTION, then the umbrella agency for the Peace Corps and VISTA.

In the early days of HRC, in addition to building the organization, Basile's tenure became focused on raising money for AIDS research, treatment, and education.

Reagan had a powerful ally in Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), who would offer amendments that made it impossible to use federal dollars for safe-sex education.

[8]In the late 1980s, Basile led an expansion of HRC's mission to include lobbying and field organizing and added a foundation with an initial $50,000 gift from Terry Watanabe.

In a phone conversation with Waybourn, the two decided to form a group to support openly gay and lesbian candidates, and began tapping their networks to explore feasibility.

Also, given the recent resurgence of bigotry and discrimination, Basile wanted get the message out there, particularly to young people and the rising generation, that the LGBTQ+ movement has overcome difficult times before and is resilient.

The following excerpt from the book sets the scene: "While the band was playing on and protestors were mounting revolutions in churches and at government headquarters, one small group of political activists was quietly playing an inside game - walking the marble halls of Congress, crafting compromises with legislators who openly loathed them, and harnessing an improbable silver lining in the horror of AIDS as they slowly, surely, and strategically guided an evolutionary transformation from abhorrence to acknowledgement, acceptance, and respect."

About the book, former congressman Barney Frank said, "Drawing on his experience as the first executive director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, Vic Basile has written a valuable addition to the story of one of the most consequential movements in post-World War II America...".

[15][6] Basile was later executive director of the Baltimore-area charity, Movable Feast, which delivers meals to HIV and AIDS patients who can't leave their homes.