Affirmation: The AIDS Odyssey of Dr. Peter

Lorraine Douglas is the youth services co-ordinator at the Winnipeg
Public Library.

In 1986 Dr. Peter Jepson-Young was diagnosed with AIDS. Four years
later, he began a CBC TV program in Vancouver called “AIDS Diary,”
which became a two-year 111-episode series. The program focused on
educating the public about gay issues and AIDS. Topics included
homophobia, AZT, alternative therapies, Peter’s seeing-eye dog,
euthanasia, and the effects of the disease. In this exceptionally
well-organized biography of Jepson-Young’s life, excerpts from the
television show are carefully integrated into the narrative.

Affirmation recounts Peter’s early years, his sometimes difficult
relationships with his family and friends, and some of the controversies
surrounding the program within the CBC and in the gay community. The
book is at its most interesting when it relates some of the remarkable
details of Peter’s life—how he painted after going blind or when he
met and debated Kim Bertalis’s parents. Asked by Jepson-Young to write
this biography, Gawthrop provides a clearly written, balanced, and
articulate tribute to Peter’s life and work.