Positively Irish Action on AIDS (PIAA), HIV and AIDS activism and the Irish diaspora in London, c.1989-1996

Positively Irish Action on AIDS (PIAA) was a community-based organization founded in London in January 1989. Its key aim was to support Irish men and women affected by HIV and AIDS in London. PIAA was established out of a sense, in the words of co-founder Tim O’Keeffe, that there was “the need for an organization that acknowledged that having an Irish identity could cause some specific problems when confronting HIV/AIDS.”

This article explores the experiences of PIAA activists and of members of the Irish diaspora in London who were affected by HIV and AIDS in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It draws primarily on oral history interviews which were conducted between 2019 and 2021 with five former members of PIAA in addition to project reports, newspapers, and other archival materials relating to the organization in the period from its formation in 1989 to its closure in 1996. It seeks to center the role of emotions, religion and Irish identity in fostering what Barbara Rosenwein terms ‘emotional communities’ to think about HIV and AIDS activists and the Irish diaspora affected by HIV and AIDS. Although PIAA was a relatively small organization, its impact extended beyond individuals affected by HIV and AIDS in London by providing support to their families in Ireland as well as engaging with activists based in Ireland and the UK.