Terl was all of these and more: a conscientious attorney; a passionate defender of the rights of PWAs, lesbians and gay men; active member of the American Civil Liberties Union and chairman of Broward County's United Citizens for Human Rights (UCHR).

Like the almost-simultaneous death of another UCHR leader, Brad Buchman, Terl's passing reminds us that, in spite of the new medications, AIDS is still with us; that it continues to kill the best and the brightest (along with the worst and the dimmest) gay men; and that we must never cease our war against this deadly and devastating disease.

Terl was one of our leading warriors in the fight against AIDS. As a lawyer, Terl defended the rights of PWAs, including the late Todd Shuttleworth, a PWA who was fired from his Broward County job on account of his condition. Terl's successful defense of Shuttleworth led to sweeping changes in the way PWAs are treated in Florida.

As an author, Terl wrote AIDS and the Law: A Basic Guide for the Nonlawyer, until recently the standard book on its topic. As an activist, Terl worked to better condition for PWAs through his work with the ACLU and various gay and lesbian organizations.

I first met Alan Terl at a social event during the early eighties, just after he moved to Florida. This was a time when AIDS began to decimate our community, only to be ignored by the powers that be. Lesbian and gay rights in Florida was still in its infancy, in spite of the work of the Dade and Broward County Coalitions, the Tuesday Night Group and the Florida Task Force.

Allan Terl was soon to change all this. As Chair of UCHR, Terl lobbied the Florida State Legislature to amend the State's Hate Crimes Law to include sexual orientation. Along with Brad Buchman and Gary Steinsmith, Terl worked to amend the Broward Human Rights Act to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Though Broward voters nixed this proposal, the Broward County Commission passed an antidiscriminatory ordinance in 1995.

In the years of my acquaintance with Allan Terl, I found him to be a fascinating individual, whose commitments never kept him from enjoying himself. An authority on winning contests, Terl literally wrote the book on the subject. His winnings, which averaged $5,000 a year in cash and prizes, were the envy of many and the amazement of all.

A brilliant conversationalist, Terl was always the life of the party, even when his health deteriorated. After AIDS and the Law, Terl began to work on a history (sadly left unfinished) of Florida's lesbian and gay movement. Terl spent hours at the Stonewall Library, doing research for that project, and it is a loss to us all that he did not complete it.

Allan Terl continued his career as an activist to the very end. After he retired from his legal practice, Terl continued to defend PWAs pro bono. He also served on the Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS and chaired the advisory board of Advocates for Sound AIDS Policy, a Florida coalition of agencies serving PWAs. He also continued his work with the Broward and Florida ACLUs, and was elected a vice president of the national organization in October of this year.

Even on his deathbed, Terl remained an activist. His very last act for our community was a letter that he sent to Governor Lawton Chiles, asking him not to appoint State Senator Sheriff as Broward County Sheriff. "Ken Jenne is simply a political opportunist of the highest magnitude," wrote Terl in a handwritten letter from his Imperial Point Medical Center hospital room. Jenne, wrote Terl, was, "in my personal opinion, a liar. ... I will be greatly disappointed in you, sir, if you should name Jenne to become sheriff." Governor Chiles would do well to heed Terl's final message.

Unlike most lesbian and gay activists, Terl was a force in both the lesbian/gay and mainstream communities. Both communities honored him for his work on their behalf. In 1993 GUARD (Gays United to Attack Repression and Discrimination) honored Terl with its first-ever Ray Lisanti Human Rights Award, named in memory of another gay activist and PWA. Terl also received several awards from the ACLU and in 1994 received the Florida legal profession's highest public service award for dedicating his legal career to fighting for the rights of lesbian and gay people.

Fame is fleeting, and memories are short. Terl, like Don Bradley, Tom Bradshaw and many other activists, left us all too soon. They run the risk of being forgotten, their contributions unknown to future generations. I urge local Community Centers and activist groups to create an Activists' Hall of Fame to honor the memory of those women and men who have done so much for our community and who are no longer with us. Let us keep their memory alive. Allan Terl, and all others like him, deserve no less.