National Task Force on AIDS Prevention


The National Task Force on AIDS Prevention was founded in 1985 as a "National Minority Organization dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic by advocating for and assisting in the development of HIV education and service programs by and for gay and bisexual men of color." The NTFAP was created to provide support to gay men of color who did not identify with the HIV/AIDS preventive propaganda that targeted white gay men at the time. The importance of the NTFAP began to emerge in the 1980s when the rate of infection in communities of color was rapidly increasing compared to white communities. The goals of the task force have been to guarantee the local gay men were targeted by HIV/AIDS preventive services. The NTFAP aimed to create culturally relevant propaganda that would help slow the rate of infection in communities of color. While the work done by the NTFAP stayed in the local San Francisco area, the intent of the organization was to set an example for the nation to follow in creating preventive services that crossed ethnic and cultural lines.

History

"If they're not going to do it , then goddamn it, we can do it ourselves. We're not crippled! We have power. That's why we created the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention – to do it for ourselves." -Reggie Williams
The National Task Force on AIDS prevention started as a project of the chapter of National Association of Black and White Men Together in San Francisco in 1985. Reggie Williams invited the representatives of various AIDS organizations to his home after a BWMT presentation to discuss the lack of prevention aimed at gay men of color. Reggie Williams was the Executive Director of NTFAP from its birth until his retirement in February 1994. Randy Miller succeeded Williams. In 1996, Angel Fabian co-organized the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention's first Gay/Bisexual Young Men of Color Summit at Gay Men of Color Conference, Miami, Florida. It closed in June 1998.