From the pages of Gay And Lesbian Community Notes Column Randy Shilts: Conduct Unbecoming By Michael Bronski The recent death of Randy Shilts has prompted a slew of obituaries in both the straight and the gay press. Most praised the writer, others repeated some of the criticism that Shilts had received during his life, and almost all mentioned the controversies that surrounded this journalist ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Randy Shilts, a tenacious, award-winning journalist who became the nation s foremost chronicler of gay life and the AIDS epidemic, died early Thursday at his ranch in the Sonoma County redwoods. He was 42. Shilts, who learned he was infected with HIV in 1987, died of AIDS, according to a statement rele ...