20 years is a major achievement. The twentieth anniversary is a time for congratulations. The THT
has played and does play an enormously important role in debates, but a lot of the best work was done by activists in private and not by people who hog the cameras and the limelight."
page 4 of 7
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Nick Partridge has been THT's chief executive for
the last 10 years. In 1999 he was awarded an OBE "for services to
people affected by HIV and Aids."
Nick explains the big changes over the last 20 years: "We now have
over 800 volunteers, 200 staff, 10 regional centres across England and
a national and international reputation.
"It's worth remembering just how disenfranchised the gay community
was back in the early 1980s. They had very little connection with the
government or the health services outside the clap clinics and we needed
to create those relationships at a time of panic and fear.
"But along with other organisations we have now created a voice
and have forced government, health services and social services to listen.
"If you're banging on the door of government demanding to be heard
and the door opens you've got to walk through it. The biggest problem
now is how we ensure that services for people with HIV aren't de-funded.
We'll have to make the argument for services in each locality and persuade
health funders to back our services at a local level."
One of the big debates in Positive Nation is what's happened to Aids
