Don Benscneider was born on May 7, 1946, in Norwalk, California. He was raised in a very

religious home within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and attended a mission for

the church from October 1965 to January 1968 to the Berlin North German Mission. He later

attended Brigham Young University where he hoped to find a way live within the guide lines of

the church, for he had known since he was five that he was gay. When he realized that was not

possible he worked to have his name removed from the records of the church and was

excommunicated on November 23, 1982. He struggled with his family for the rest of his life.

After graduating from BYU he worked to become an interior designer within the Los Angeles

area, even starting his own business on a few occasions. In 1980 he was diagnosed with HIV

which helped steer his life. He went back to school and received a Master’s Degree in 1986 and

began teaching at Long Beach State, where he was eventually let go because of his HIV status.

In 1987 He moved to Florida. In 1988 he began his association with the “Names Project,” which

was the AIDS Quilt project that toured across the county, with many of the squares having

names of his friends who had died. In 1992 he began his association with the People With Aids

Coalition to bring awareness to the corruption in the Aids programs that were leaving the people

with aids without help. In 1994 he left Florida and eventually settled in Hawaii until his death in

2007.