Coutinho's role during this stage started out as critical collaborator, and it shifted to controversial collaborator after 1986: he was very outspoken, stubborn, did not negotiate with others on the contributions he made to the media, and he did not let himself be tamed by the sensitivities of gay emancipation. He described this period as being jammed between science and policy. 11 The collaboration in the control of HIV/Aids became gradually more problematic, which resulted in this shift in Coutinho's role.