In September of 1983, Ryan Painter’s father was the first diagnosed AIDS patient in Utah to pass away. The memories of his father are detailed in his memoir.
Courtesy of Ryan Michael Painter
Ryan Michael Painter’s father was Utah’s documented first death from an AIDS-related illness. We’ll talk with Ryan about his memoir,
The Unexpected Son and about the man he lost when he was just seven years old.
Robert Michael Painter grew up in a conservative state, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And he did what he thought he was supposed to do: Attend his church meetings. Marry young. Even father a child. But as a closeted gay man, he was also living a lie that he couldn’t maintain. This Friday at 11 a.m., Ryan shares with us the details of his father’s life, his early death and about his own upbringing the “miracle child, growing up during an unfathomable plague.”