Bill Kraus

William James Kraus (June 26, 1947 – January 11, 1986) was an American gay rights and AIDS activist as well as a congressional aide who served as liaison between the San Francisco gay community and its two successive US representatives in the early 1980s.

Early years Kraus was born in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. His father died when he was in his early teens. Kraus was a 1965 graduate of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and was a national merit scholar. and master's degree in political science.

Kraus was himself diagnosed with the disease in October 1984. He traveled to Paris to be treated with the drug HPA-23, believed at the time to boost the immune systems of AIDS patients. In Kraus' case, it proved useless. He was in Paris when actor Rock Hudson arrived to pursue the same treatment. When it became clear the drug had failed, Kraus returned home to San Francisco where he died on January 11, 1986, at the age of 38.

After his death, his mother worked to continue his activism and raise awareness about AIDS.

Media

Kraus appears in the 1984 documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk. He was also a central figure in Randy Shilts' book And the Band Played On about the early response to the AIDS epidemic. In 1993, the book was adapted into the HBO film of the same name, with actor Ian McKellen playing Kraus. The film dramatized, with some artistic license, both the book and real events in the life of Kraus.