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Following this national attention that he received, Fambro understood and accepted his
role as a leader. He continued as a gay rights advocate, but noted the large population of people
who were homeless, many of them identifying as gay or transgender. Fambro himself understood
what it was like being on his own. In an interview, Fambro explained that he was frequently at
odds with his family and left home at a young age. Fambro shared that “as a boisterous teenager
who could not keep his opinions to himself….at midnight on his 18th birthday, he eagerly
packed his bags to leave home.”20 The slow progression of human rights required people to
become tolerant and understanding of gay youth being kicked out of their homes by their parents
or evicted by their landlords. 21
AIDS Fear Hitting Home in Macon

In June 1982, Robert Bazell of NBC Nightly News reported on a new form of "cancer"
that seemed to be affecting only homosexual men and intravenous drug users. These reports
provoked fear throughout the nation. Doctors initially called it Gay-Related Immune Deficiency,
but it soon became known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (HIV/AIDS).22 Fambro knew this infectious disease would complicate matters, further
hindering a dialogue with the Christian majority who opposed the lifestyles of gay and
transgender people. Fambro and others were already fighting the stigma around homosexuality
and understood that it derived from ignorance and intolerance. But Macon’s religious
conservatives would see the epidemic as proof that homosexuals were sexual deviants who
spread disease. The rapid spread of AIDS, viewed as the mysterious and lethal disorder, led to
growing community concern. According to Jo Ann Rowland, a senior registered nurse with the

20 "Middle Georgia resource compassion fuels comprehension services at Central City AIDS Network," HIV Risk Reduction 9
(2009): 1-4, https://www.pdffiller.com/en/project/147277139.htm?f_hash=e04b5c&reload=true.
21 "The Johnny Fambro Story," interview by author, November 2017.(Michael-Angel León)
22 “NBC's Earliest Report on AIDS 1982,” YouTube Video, 1:57, news report on 06/17/1982, gb13k,
https://youtu.be/1LKJ5ZzzL0w.

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