Rick Bébout

Richard Bébout (January 11, 1950 – June 10, 2009) was a Canadian editor, journalist, and LGBTQ rights and AIDS activist. He is most noted for his contributions to LGBTQ rights organizations and publications in Toronto, especially his work on The Body Politic.

Early life Bébout was born on January 11, 1950 in Ayer, Massachusetts, United States. He was the second of nine children in his family. In 1969, when he was 19 years old, he left the United States for Canada to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War, and he ultimately settled in Toronto.

Career In 1972, Bébout edited The Open Gate: Toronto Union Station, a book of essays that has been credited with helping to prevent the demolition of Union Station.

1977–1986: The Body Politic and AIDS activism Bébout joined The Body Politic 's editorial collective in 1977 and began to contribute to the magazine as an editor, writer, publisher, and staff member. Fellow editor Gerald Hannon described Bébout in his memoirs as the collective's "most influential and powerful" member. As a politically radical gay publication, The Body Politic faced several legal challenges, He also wrote and published many articles in The Body Politic about HIV/AIDS prevention. In one influential article, "Is There Safe Sex?", he summarized the available scientific knowledge about AIDS prevention and advocated for safe sex but acknowledged that mainstream medical advice about safe sex, such as using condoms and limiting sexual partners, did not always fit the realities of gay men's lives.

In a letter written to Jane Rule in December 1986, after the editorial collective decided to close the magazine, Bébout wrote that The Body Politic "will probably remain the most important thing any of us has ever done."

He received the Ontario AIDS Network Honour Roll award in 1999 for his AIDS-prevention work.

Personal life Bébout was close friends with the prominent lesbian author Jane Rule, whom he first met through The Body Politic. Later in his life, Bébout was also a friend of Norwegian musician Sondre Lerche.

Bébout was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, several years into his work as an AIDS activist. He died of complications from a stroke on June 10, 2009.

Works

The Open Gate: Toronto Union Station (1972), P. Martin Associates Promiscuous Affections: A Life in the Bar, 1969-2000 (2003), self-published A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Bébout (2017), UBC Press