AIDS Services of Austin (ASA) is a non-profit AIDS service organization that addresses HIV and AIDS in Central Texas. Founded in 1987, ASA is the region's oldest and largest community-based organization addressing the local AIDS crisis. Annually, they provide direct care services to over 1,500 people and HIV prevention education to over 10,000 people. In 2020, ASA merged with national HIV/AIDS non-profit Vivent Health. All ASA services now operate under the Vivent Health name. History 1980s The first HIV case in Austin was reported in the summer of 1983, known at the time as GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. In the first months of the outbreak, there was no local organization dedicated to the quickly growing crisis. In August 1983, Paul Clover founded the Waterloo Counseling Center to serve the gay community through queer-positive, affordable mental health services. The Austin AIDS Project was started at Waterloo but would grow, in just four years, to the point where an organization dedicated to AIDS was needed. Volunteer Beginnings In 1987 the Austin AIDS Project was incorporated as AIDS Services of Austin. Throughout ASA's history, volunteers have been instrumental to its growth. One of the volunteer groups formed was the Rubber Fairies, a group which distributed condoms and provided safer sex education. Their efforts garnered praise in an article on Splash Days in a July 1988 issue of The Advocate, a national news magazine reporting on the LGBT community. Another volunteer organization, the Octopus Club, was organized by Lew Aldridge in 1987. The Octopus Club raises funds through events such as ArtErotica, OctoTea Dance and the Oscar Parties for ASA's Paul Kirby Emergency Relief Fund. Early politics of AIDS In the fall of 1986, the Texas Commissioner of Health proposed quarantining gay men suspected of having HIV and AIDS. Glen Maxey from the Austin AIDS Project organized medical experts to testify before the Texas Legislature against quarantine. On the day the quarantine proposal was withdrawn, Maxey stepped onto the steps of the Texas Department of Health to a throng of cameras. Interviewed by Dan Rather for the CBS Evening News, Maxey was outed as a gay activist. He would go on to become the first openly gay legislator in Texas, landing the first state funding earmark for community-based AIDS service organizations. 1990s In response to the unique legal issues faced by people living with HIV and AIDS, ASA started the Capital Area AIDS