I have never had a vote, and I have raised hell all over this country. You don't need a vote to raise hell! You need convictions and a voice!
I remember my first friend who got sick. It was 1981, and the disease was called the gay cancer. I don't think the word 'AIDS' came out until '84. I just remember it being terrifying as more people got sick. We didn't know how you could catch it, you heard all kinds of crazy things.