HeAlTH INFormATioN & VieWs - CD8 T cells - The Body

Jeffrey T. Keller doesn’t consider
himself an activist. “I don’t think of
myself as one,” says the Edmontonbased
family law lawyer, “because I
have a full-time job too.” Full-time job
or not, it’s hard not to see an activist’s
desire to disturb the status quo in this
man who has written an essay titled
“On Becoming a Fag” and has “HIV+”
tattooed on his forearm.
Instead, Keller says, “I’m just helping
on the side.” To be fair, his work
from the sidelines is considerable:
He writes, he teaches and he has
made valuable contributions to the
AIDS movement. The passionate and
eloquent presentations he has given
at public forums, conferences and
AIDS vigils have run the gamut from
sex education and HIV prevention to
mental health to HIV and criminal
law. Until recently, he was vice-chair
of the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS)
board and, before that, the chair of
HIV Edmonton.
Keller is the kind of lawyer—and
man—who fights against injustice
at every turn. He advocates for the
mistreated and defends the vulnerable.
If his work doesn’t tell you that,
then the “Respect everyone” tattoo on
his inner right forearm will.
You could say that respect is the
thread that runs throughout his life’s
work—his studies, his advocacy work
and his career as a lawyer. Growing up
in Smalltown, Sas kat che wan, Keller
experienced firsthand how it feels to be
disrespected and bullied. Now, he
advocates for the rights and dignity of
his clients and all people with HIV. In
his personal interactions, he makes
sure to actively listen and make a person
feel like “a respected human being
rather than a nameless person.”
In 1994, Keller wrote “On Becoming a
Fag,” an essay that was published in
the Saskatchewan Law Review. In it,
he weaves together a moving account
of his personal development as a gay
man and his relationship to the “fag”
label with a history of how religion,
medicine and the law have persecuted
gays and lesbians over the centuries.
PROFILE
All Due Respect
Lawyer and AIDS activist Jeff Keller takes on stigma and discrimination
in his mission to ensure that people are treated with the respect they deserve.
by AstrID vAn Den broek
PhOTOgRAPh BY cURTIS TRENT
The article caused an uproar in the
province’s legal community, prompting
numerous letters to the editor and
letters from lawyers who threatened
to cancel their subscriptions.
Later that same year, Keller
learned he had HIV. He was in the
middle of studying for Christmas
exams when he received the news at
the University of Saskatchewan medical
clinic. His doctor told him that he
might have five years left before he
got AIDS and would probably die
within two years after that. Keller
quickly sunk into a depression, barely
making it through classes in the daytime
and zoning out in front of the TV
at night. But he trudged on, pushing
himself to go to classes every day,
determined to finish law school along
with the rest of his class. “I took on
the attitude that this stupid little virus
was not going to control my life.”
Right away, Keller was prescribed
AZT, the only drug available at the time.
A few years later, when effective antiretroviral
therapy (ART) became available,
he switched to a combination of
Summer 2012 THE POSITIVE SIDE
9