With Pride Month nearly over it’s so so sad to still see so much homophobia and hate speech around. So, I just wanted to to talk about Louise Hay’s work with HIV and AIDS sufferers back in the 80’s. Louise Hay and the Hay Rides were a complete life line to so many people at a time when they felt isolated and rejected by society at large. 🌈🌈🌈

In 1985, she began, in her home, what later became her famous support group, The Hayride, to help HIV/AIDS patients and their families. This was a time when these people were pushed away by society – so many literally had nowhere to go as their families and loved ones turned their backs on them. It is such an important part of her legacy. 

In a blog called, “My Fabulous Disease,” Mark S. King wrote that Hay’s “message of self-love and unconditional acceptance—of our lives and other people—resonated like a beacon to the frightened gay men of Los Angeles.”

Here is the link for the entire blog.

Louise Hay and the Hay Rides

It was in Los Angeles in 1987 that the Hay Rides started, gatherings of people with AIDS, mostly gay men, looking for an answer or, at the very least, loving human contact. Some came away from the Hay Rides in despair, but others came away with self-love that was hard to find as a gay man in the 1980s.

As Louise wrote,

“Often what we think of as the things ‘wrong’ with us are only our experiences of our own individuality.”

Louise Hay

And this is a section from Sherri Lewis’ blog when Louise passed:

“ Yes, Louise Hay undoubtedly profited from AIDS. But she also reached out to the HIV/AIDS community as early as 1985, before doing so became a major celebrity cause — and two years before President Reagan first initiated the topic of AIDS in a speech. She held her first support groups for people with AIDS in her own home. And she did this at a time when there was more rage than hope, when there seemed to be no future for those living with the disease. For many, there wasn’t.

At that time, Louise opened her home and her heart and carried us as we grieved. “I am safe; it’s only change,” she taught us to say. So, for all that, I believe that Louise Hay was a true angel who earned her wings. Thank you, Louise, and rest in peace.”

Again, I am sharing the link for the whole blog.

I so hope that we can just start to love and accept ourselves more so that we can love and ACCEPT others more. It really is as simple as that…..🌈🌈

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this blog and if you have come across Louise Hay before – get in contact here.