Tommi Avicolli interviews Doug James on his life in the gay community and his later AIDS diagnosis. At the time of this interview, James was 28 years old. James grew up in Long Island, and first came out in New York City as a teenager in 1968 or 1969. He spent time as an organizer at the Firehouse in Soho and with members of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). James came to Philadelphia as a nursing student, but was kiciked out of school for his sexuality and drug use. He worked as an orderly in a hospital for a few years before deciding it wasn't for him. After working in gay bars throughout the city James started dance school and got off drugs. He was first told he could have AIDS in December of 1982; he was a dance student at Temple University.
