He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 with a degree in political science.[7]
In 1971, Fair won a federal lawsuit (Fair v. Osser)[8] which established that Pennsylvania students have the right to register to vote using their campus addresses.
Early activism
In 1976, Fair publicly identified as gay for the first time at a meeting at the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia. He later became involved with several local LGBTQ organizations, such as Gays at Penn (GAP).[9] In 1977, members of GAP took part in advocacy that contributed to the University of Pennsylvania adopting a sexual orientation non-discrimination policy.
In 1978, Fair helped organize the Philadelphia Gay Cultural Festival, the first gay and lesbian cultural festival held outside New York State and California. The following year, he helped establish an LGBT health committee within the PLGTF.[10] The committee later became the non-profit Lavender Health and was renamed the Mazzoni Center, in honor of physician Peter Mazzoni.
Labor and AIDS Activism
Early labor and LGBT political organizing
Along with fellow LGBT Democratic Party activist Scott Wilds and others,[11] Fair formed a 1979 mayoral campaign committee to support pro-LGBT City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, but the campaign was unsuccessful. However, the effort drew the attention of the local labor leader Henry Nicholas, president of the local affiliate of 1199: The National Health Care Workers' Union (1199C), who hired Fair as his executive assistant in 1980. In 1985, Fair was elected the Union's first openly gay officer, Secretary-Treasurer, and as a Vice President of the Union's national organization. Between 1980 and 1988, Fair worked for the healthcare workers’ union 1199C, where he held elected office and served as a spokesperson. During this period, he was involved in labor organizing, housing advocacy, and LGBTQ political organizing in Philadelphia.
Early HIV/AIDS activism
In the mid-1980s, Fair became involved in local responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, working with community organizations and municipal agencies.
In 1985, as the AIDS epidemic grew in both the LGBT and racial minority communities, Fair encouraged Goode to create the Mayor's Commission on Health Emergencies, the first effort in the city government to create a local response to the AIDS epidemic.[citation needed] That same year, Fair gave the fledgling AIDS prevention organization Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues (BEBASHI) its first office space.[12]
In 1986, Fair authored AIDS and Minorities in Philadelphia: A Crisis Ignored for BEBASHI and began participating in the organizing of African American and Latino LGBT people to combat the epidemic in their own communities.[13] At the 1986 national convention of the National Association of Black and White Men Together, Fair gave the keynote speech on white gay racism, which was later published in Speaking for Our Lives: Historic Speeches and Rhetoric for Gay and Lesbian Rights 1892-2000. From that point until the mid-1990s, Fair became a leading organizer of anti-racism efforts in the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities in Philadelphia.[14] These efforts were typified by a speech Fair gave to a town meeting sponsored by the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Community Council in 1989, focusing on the need to embrace intersectionality within the community to make progress.
Municipal leadership on HIV/AIDS policy
In November 1987, Philadelphia Mayor Goode asked Fair to revitalize the city's lagging HIV/AIDS programs by leading the formation of the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office.[15] Goode provided Fair with a special $6 million ($16.3 million in 2023 dollars) allocation of unrestricted city funds, leading to the creation of a network of HIV-related services. Shortly after his appointment, Fair initiated a new comprehensive response to the epidemic in Philadelphia with a speech to the Neighborhood Summit on AIDS, calling for a recognition that defeating AIDS meant organizing neighborhoods to combat HIV infection among those affected, including gay people of color, those fighting addiction, women and others who had historically been ignored by AIDS organizations.[citation needed]
Fair left the AIDS office in 1990[16] to lead the city's only advocacy organization composed of people living with HIV, called We The People Living with AIDS/HIV of the Delaware Valley.
AIDS advocacy, protest, and direct action
In 1991, Fair was arrested and injured by Philadelphia police at an ACT-UP demonstration against President George H.W. Bush.[17] As a result of a lawsuit filed against the Philadelphia Police Department, Fair received a settlement of $3,000, which he used to purchase the first computer for We The People.
In 1994, Fair led a 17-day hunger strike[18] with nine others to demand that the state of Pennsylvania maintain funding for the only nursing facility for people with AIDS, Betak, a successful campaign that kept the home open for several more years.
Children's Services and Advocacy
Nonprofit leadership and ongoing advocacy
In 2007, Fair began publishing an online weekly newsletter for United Way called "What Matters," which highlighted news and events of interest to the Philadelphia-area non-profit community. By 2010, the newsletter had over 15,000 subscribers. After mergers resulted in the new United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey in 2012, the name of the newsletter was changed to "Common Good".[19] Fair remains the editor of the now-monthly online publication.
He is a founder of Philly Homes 4 Youth, the Quality Parenting Initiative, and the Philadelphia Coalition on Opioids and Children.
Organizations founded
Fair founded and led a wide range of nonprofit organizations and public initiatives focused on LGBTQ rights, public health, housing, and family services in Philadelphia, including:
1977 – Founded the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force[20]
1978 – Founded the Philadelphia Gay Cultural Festival[21]
1979 – Founded Lavender Health, now known as the Mazzoni Center
2001 – Led the creation of the Division of Community-Based Prevention Services for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health
2003 – Led the creation of the Parenting Collaborative for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services
2014 – Led the creation of the Quality Parenting Initiative for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services
2017 – Founded Philly Homes 4 Youth
2018 – Founded the Philadelphia Coalition on Opioids and Children
Recognition and awards
Fair is a recipient of civic awards relating to labor organizing, AIDS advocacy, and anti-racism efforts.
In 1989–1990, his work was recognized by the AIDS in the Barrio Conference, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission, Unity/Philadelphia, Dignity/Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Council, and the Mayor’s Office.
His video Epidemic: The AIDS Emergency in Philadelphia[22] received the Communicator of the Year Award from the Public Relations Society of Southeastern Pennsylvania and a CINE Award for Video Excellence.
In 2025, Fair’s activism was featured in the third series of HBO Max’sEyes on the Prize, which examined efforts to address the AIDS epidemic in communities of color during the late 1980s. Fair was also recognized at an advance screening of the episode at the Schomburg Center in New York City.
In February 2025, HBO Max released the third series of the Eyes on the Prize franchise, covering the period 1977–2015. The first episode in the series included a segment on the efforts of Philadelphia activists to draw attention to the impact of the AIDS epidemic in communities of color in the late 1980s, featuring Fair and fellow activists Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer, Michael S. Hinson Jr., and Tyrone Smith. Abdul-Khabeer and Fair were honored for their work at an advance screening of the episode at the Schomburg Center in New York City, the day before the TV premiere.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
