Hank Trout, M.A. moved to San Francisco in 1980 from Chicago to experience the liberation and freedom our city is famous for—and for a coveted assistant editor position with Drummer Magazine. Just in time to witness the beginning of AIDS, Trout quickly saw his community decimated and a shift from freedom to terror. As he helped care for dying friends, his own diagnosis with HIV in 1989 “complicated matters” and he stopped writing professionally and for his own enjoyment.
Trout now identifies as a long-term survivor and is finding hope in a new era of HIV, solidarity with other survivors and joy as a writer and editor again. Along with other “last men standing” Trout shares his story to ensure that other long-terms survivors aren’t left behind or forgotten as the worst times of HIV recede into history.