He’s an international symbol in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but there was a time Dr. Peter Jepson-Young’s family feared his brave step into the public spotlight would come at great peril.
Fondly known to most as simply “Dr. Peter”, Jepson-Young hosted a weekly CBC Television segment on his fatal fight with the disease in 1990 – educating people about the disease, putting a human face on the struggle and breaking down barriers during a time when AIDS patients and gay men were stigmatized and considered taboo.
His mother, Shirley Young, said Jepson-Young never had a doubt about the series but that same couldn’t be said about his family and friends.
“In the beginning, we tried very had to discourage him,” said Young, who accepted a posthumous AccolAIDS Legacy Award from Positive Living Society of B.C. on behalf of her son on Sunday. “We felt it wouldn’t be well received and would open him up for gay bashing. Even his medical colleagues were concerned, because he was really laying himself bare.”