“Years of Living Precariously”, A&U magazine. Part III. 1983: The Buddy System. Becoming a volunteer “buddy” at GMHC

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Buddy System

The buddy to whom I was assigned was named Bill, a tall, lanky Southerner who lived in the then-scummy neighborhood known as Chelsea, a rather bleak, run-down, precarious area, far removed from the more fashionable gay neighborhoods of the West Village and the Upper West Side