Robert F. Gentry
(1939 - living) U.S.A:
Politician
For Gentry, Orange County's first and only openly homosexual elected official and an associate dean of students at UC Irvine, deciding to be tested for AIDS was an anguishing choice that he had put off again and again.
After Gary Burdick, his longtime companion died on January 24, 1989, of AIDS related disease, Laguna Beach Mayor Robert F. Gentry learned that he had tested negative for the virus that causes the deadly disease.
Around Orange County, experts on AIDS said they hoped Gentry's experience will persuade others at risk of having the disease to conquer their fears and be tested.
Still, Gentry said, he mourns Burdick. "Since Gary died, I've been waking up in the middle of the night, between 3 and 4, for at least an hour or so."
Living without Burdick, not being able to share something as important as a negative test for the HIV, "is very, very hard," Gentry said.
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