Toronto HIV advocate leaves behind legacy of empowerment
Ron Rosenes was an outspoken LGBTQ+ activist who challenged stigma around HIV/AIDS and advocated in support of marginalized communities.
He even declared his own HIV status openly at a time when that meant facing increased discrimination.
Despite misinformation and fear, the prominent Torontonian remained focused on living a good life, once saying, “it’s not just how long you live, but how well you live.”
On Saturday, Oct. 21, Rosenes died. He was 75.
Rosenes’ death followed a brief illness, his close friend John McCullagh announced on Facebook.
“My deepest sympathies go out to Ron’s partner Brian Goodman, to his family, and to the many community members whose lives he touched,” McCullagh said.
“I think he touched everybody living with HIV and affected by HIV in this country,” said Sandra Ka Hon Chu, a long-time colleague of Rosenes at the HIV Legal Network.
“Even if you don’t feel it immediately, his fingerprints are everywhere.”
Bathhouse raids shaped his work
Rosenes’ involvement dates back to the February 1981 bathhouse raids in Toronto. He was among 250 gay men arrested that night, which spurred the city’s first ever Pride event months later.
The memories of that night shaped Rosenes’ understanding of the struggles men like himself faced during that era.
“It was an unbelievable night in the life of a young gay man,” he later told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.
WATCH | Raw footage of street demonstrations after Toronto police raided multiple bathhouses in 1981:
Featured VideoWarning: offensive language. Raw footage of street demonstrations after Toronto police raided multiple bathhouses in 1981. Footage dated Feb. 7, 1981.
Six years later, in 1987, Rosenes was diagnosed with HIV, which is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and, if left untreated, can cause AIDS, an acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Despite public fear due to limited research about the virus, Rosenes continued his advocacy.
“This was the early 1990s, and we were losing tremendous numbers of friends and acquaintances,” he later told the HIV Legal Network.
“I couldn’t see very far down the road myself.”
By his own account, Rosenes became “politicized” in 1991 when his partner of 15 years died from AIDS. By the 21st century, his focus was on securing legislative change to meet the needs of the LGBQ+ community and those living with HIV/AIDS.
“Over time, I found that building relationships of trust with people in positions of power got us into rooms where we could impact policies,” Rosenes said.
“He was just such a champion for human rights,” said Chu, who worked with him to combat the criminalization of HIV. In 2014, Rosenes received the Order of Canada for improving access to health care and social justice resources for people living with HIV/AIDS.
In later years, he remained open about his health battles, sharing his experience with prostate cancer and open-heart surgery. He urged medical and healthcare professionals to view individuals living with HIV as whole people rather than solely through the lens of their diagnosis.
“There is no risk whatsoever in providing personal care and support to someone aging with HIV,” he emphasized in a 2018 interview with CBC’s The Current.
Rosenes was a good speaker who “always looked so sharp” and “dressed impeccably,” remembered long-time friend San Patten.
Patten says she admired Rosenes for recognizing his privilege as a white gay man.
“The imperative of human rights for all is as simple as that old maxim,” she said. “If one of us is unsafe, then none of us is safe.”
