Australia lost David Polson, a giant in the fight against HIV in Australia, who also co-founded Sydney’s Qtopia queer museum, on this day in 2025.
After his HIV diagnosis in 1984 Polson took part in 28 drug trials as scientist sought ways of treating the virus, for Polson it was often experiencing significant side effects. He spent decades giving public talks about living with HIV and advocating for research and better care.
During his life he was honoured by People Living with HIV Australia, Positive Life NSW, and Gilead Sciences. In 2023 he was awarded the Order of Australia.
In 2020 Polson took part in the ABC program You Can’t Ask That! answering anonymous questions about living with HIV. Polson shared that when he was first diagnosed in 1984 it was like “falling down a big bottomless black pit”, and the prognosis for him was impending death, but undeterred he embraced healthy living. and signed up to take part in the drug trials.
When he passed away at the age of 70 age was honoured with a state funeral.
Remembering the life and work of Bill Sherwood
Film director Bill Sherwood only made a series of short film and one feature before his life was cut short by an AIDS related death.
His feature film Parting Glances was the first substantial role for actor Steve Buscemi (pictured above) and one of the first films to tackle the AIDS epidemic.
Released in 1986 the film follows a group of friends in New York City over a 24-hour period. It focuses on a gay couple, but one of the men still cares for his ex-boyfriend (played by Steve Buscemi) who had HIV.
The film was made for just $310,000 but found success as an indie film around the world and has been hailed as important film in the LGBTIQ realm, and in bringing more attention to the challenges faced at the time by people living with HIV.
Following the success of Parting Glances Sherwood wrote more scripts but none were produced. He died of an AIDS related illness in 1990. In 2007 a restored print of the film was released.
Steve Buscemi has gone on to be one of Hollywood’s most hard-working actors appearing in many film and TV projects including Reservoir Dogs, Con Air, Desperado, Armageddon, Boardwalk Empire and many films by the Coen Brothers including Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski.
This post was first posted on 10 February 2020 and has ben updated.
