Bob Hattoy. Photo by Bob Roehr_________
Bob Hattoy, 56, died in his sleep on March 3 at his home in Sacramento, Calif., apparently of a heart attack. The environmental-political-gay-AIDS activist became perhaps the most widely know openly gay member of the Clinton administration. He addressed the 1992 Democratic National Convention as a person living with AIDS.
Hattoy was a long term survivor of HIV and recently had been hospitalized for PCP ( Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia ) , a lung infection seen in persons with a severely compromised immune system, but had returned home. Cardiac arrest increasingly is associated with long term survival of HIV disease.
'When Bob spoke at the 1992 Democratic Convention with courage and conviction as a person with AIDS—and famously a friend of the Clintons—he galvanized the community and gave hope that our voice was going to be heard at the highest levels,' said Sean Strub, founding publisher of POZ magazine.
'Bob's integrity never wavered; he was thoroughly an activist, one who devoted his life to progressive social change.'
Perhaps the greatest examples of that came during the early years of the Clinton administration. Hattoy served first in the White House and when his lip caused him to be exiled, from to a job with the National Park Service.
In an extended interview with this reporter in September 1994, Hattoy said, 'We don't need to be activists at ACT UP meetings; we need to be AIDS activists at country clubs, beauty parlors, PTA and home owner association meetings.'
As a member of the first Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, he ripped into a December 1996 'strategy' document created by the AIDS Czar that did not address needle exchange, medical marijuana or incarcerated populations. "People with AIDS in America don't give a damn whether or not it's our first step or our first document, they care about what is being done or not being done.'
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called Hattoy 'a true champion for justice. Aside from being a fierce advocate on causes ranging from LGBT rights and HIV issues, to civil liberties and the environment, Bob Hattoy was a wonderfully charming man with a tremendous sense of humor. Most of all, Bob was a friend and mentor to so many.'
And if this reporter can offer a personal note, the friends of Bob Hattoy were legion. While it was possible to become frustrated with him, it was difficult not to like him. He liked to talk, and he was amazingly candid in those discussions, often to the dismay of the political bosses he worked for. He didn't believe in spin or hype, and he loved the process of politics, if not always the outcome.
