page_title: Whitman-Walker Health
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Whitman-Walker Health / History / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: English: Early 20th-century commercial buildings located at 2335&#8211;2339 18th Street, N.W., in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The buildings are designated as contributing properties to the Washington Heights Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. From 1980 to 1987, the Whitman-Walker Clinic was located at 2335 18th Street, N.W., visible on the far right-hand side.
context_page_description: Whitman-Walker Health, formerly Whitman-Walker Clinic, is a non-profit community health center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with a special expertise in HIV/AIDS healthcare and LGBT healthcare. Founded as an affirming health center for the gay and lesbian community in 1978, Whitman-Walker was one of the first responders to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in D.C. and became a leader in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, Whitman-Walker has expanded its services to include primary healthcare services, a stronger focus on queer women's care and youth services.
  WWH is named for gay poet Walt Whitman and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a noted Civil War-era physician in the District and women's rights activist.
context_section_description: In 1980, a financial crisis threatened the Clinic. The administrator resigned, programs were eliminated and the Clinic moved into a more affordable space on 18th Street in Adams Morgan.
  In 1981, Jim Graham became the Clinic's president and Larry Medley became the third WWC administrator. Whitman-Walker hired its first board-certified medical technologist for an in-house laboratory offering testing for various sexually transmitted diseases.
  On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report features an account of five young gay men in Los Angeles with cases of rare pneumonia. This was the first medical report on what would famously come to be known as HIV/AIDS.
  In 1983, as AIDS began taking a larger toll, WWC assumed a leadership role in fighting the epidemic. The Clinic launched its AIDS Education Fund to provide up-to-date information, counseling and direct services to people with AIDS; the Buddy program to help people living with AIDS was started; an AIDS information hotline (which was the recipient of the first DC contract awarded for AIDS services) was created; and an HIV/AIDS prevention advertising campaign was launched. To support these new programs, WWC benefited from D.C.'s first AIDS fundraiser which raised $4,400.
  On April 4, 1983, WWC presented the first D.C. AIDS Forum at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University. The forum distributed AIDS prevention information and catered to the 1,200 men in attendance. A second AIDS forum for people of color was held on September 28.
  In 1984, WWC opened its AIDS Evaluation Unit, the first gay, community-based medical unit in the U.S. devoted to the evaluation and diagnosis of AIDS symptoms. Fifty-five patients were treated the first year and 50 percent had AIDS.
  The first support group for people with AIDS (PWA) began. Sunnye Sherman, a WWC client, stepped forward as one of the first women openly living with AIDS in the nation. She acted as a strong support system for other people with AIDS and educated the community on her experience.
  Whitman-Walker opened the Robert N. Schwartz, M.D., house, the city's first home for people with AIDS, in 1985. The second house opened in December.
  Later that year, WWC began anonymous testing for what was then called HTLV-III, but is now called HIV. Whitman-Walker became the largest testing site in the region.
  The AIDS treatment center rapidly expanded and became a full-time clinic in 1986.
  Through 1986, WWC continued to expand HIV/AIDS services. The housing program grew with the opening of four houses. Whitman-Walker also opened a food bank and hired its first full-time lawyer to provide clients with legal services related to AIDS discrimination. These services largely consisted of wills, powers of attorney and disability entitlements.
  In 1987, WWC opened a dental clinic for patients with HIV/AIDS, one of only three in the country at the time. Whitman-Walker also opened the Scott Harper House for gay men and lesbians recovering from substance abuse, a facility still open to this day.
  Also in 1987, WWC moved to a larger building, located at 1407 S Street, NW (formerly the Evelyn Towers Apartments). This facility would operate as the organization's headquarters for more than two decades. Whitman-Walker was able to purchase the building in 1988. At this time, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation were the Clinic's primary financial supporters. Simultaneously, individual contributions from the local LGBTQ community made up about half of the organization's income.
  Whitman-Walker brought the first AIDS Walk to D.C. in 1987.
  Whitman-Walker encountered resistance when it began to offer services through the Northern Virginia AIDS Project in 1987. Although the Clinic had started its Northern Virginia AIDS Project in 1987, it was unable to find space for its operations for some time. In one case, the Clinic was denied housing by a landlord who allegedly did so out of fear and/or homophobia. The landlord claimed the Clinic had not met certain leasing and 
caption: From 1980 to 1987, Whitman-Walker Clinic was located at 2335 18th Street, N.W., visible on the far right-hand side.
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