Join award-winning author Victoria Noe and GMHC Director of Community Relations Krishna Stone in celebrating the release of Noe’s newest book on straight women in the HIV/AIDS community, UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines. Building on the success of her 2019 ground-breaking F*g Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, Noe turns to how straight women are facing the shock and awe of 2025, and answering the question ‘where do we go from here?’ A book signing with Noe and some of the women in the book will follow the discussion.

To reserve a copy of UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines (King Company Publishing, September 16, 2025, paperback, $16.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of Unstoppable for September 14th event” in the subject line.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

You can also purchase Unstoppable (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:

UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Deep into her fourth career, St. Louis native Victoria Noe is a Chicago-based award-winning author, speaker and activist with two degrees in theater. Her Friend Grief series – the result of a promise she made to a dying friend – recognizes the importance of friendships in shaping our lives and illuminates an often disrespected form of grief. Noe’s long-time HIV/AIDS activism then led her to write F*g Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, the groundbreaking book that honors the women who changed the course of the epidemic. An accomplished public speaker, she has presented to a wide variety of organizations and events, including ACT UP/London, Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Muse and the Marketplace, BookExpo America, Chicago Women’s History Center, Printers Row Lit Fest, and Open Hand/San Francisco, as well as libraries and bookstores around New York state and the Midwest. During COVID, she led workshops for Let’s Reimagine and Global Grief Network, and Honoring Our Experience. Noe’s 2023 book, What Our Friends Left Behind: Grief and Laughter in a Pandemic, shares the challenges faced by people who grieved a friend during COVID.

With Unstoppable: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines, Noe shares more stories of women in the HIV/AIDS community, and how they’re responding to the shock and awe of 2025.

She is a member of ACT UP/NY, Alliance of Independent Authors, and Chicago Writers Association. Try to keep up with her at victorianoe.com or email her at victoria@victorianoe.com. She promises to respond quickly. Probably.

Krishna Stone is the Director of Community Relations in the Communications Department at GMHC (founded as Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1982, the world’s first HIV and AIDS service organization). She originally connected with GMHC in 1986 as a walker in the first annual AIDS Walk New York and then started volunteering at GMHC. In 1993, she became a staff person at GMHC. As of 2024, she has been an employee for 32 years! She organizes community events such as rallies, candlelight vigils, non-denominational gatherings, press conferences, local/state/national conferences, dance party/fundraisers, panel discussions, trainings, and site visits for people all over the world. She coordinates interviews for media outlets, helps with social media promotion and developing public service campaigns and promotional materials. Krishna is also an ordained non-denominational minister.

For 21 years, she was a volunteer announcer along the route of the annual NYC LGBT Pride March. She continues to volunteer with other community-based organizations as well. In 2014, she received an award from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for “her outstanding dedication to combatting the spread of HIV.”

In 2017, Krishna was one of the four Grand Marshals for the NYC LGBT Pride March and in 2019, she was awarded the Sam Ciccone Community Service Award by the Gay Officers Action League New York (GOAL-NY). She was also profiled in both of Victoria Noe’s books on straight women in the AIDS community.

In 2020, she received the Gay City News Impact Award for her commitment and service for the LGBTQ+ community. And in 2021, she was spotlighted by POZ Magazine’s POZ 100: “Black Advocates—both HIV positive and negative—who are making a difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the United States”. On December 1, 2022, she received the World AIDS Day award from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene “for her work at GMHC and planning past World AIDS Day citywide events.”

She is the proud mother of her 30-year-old daughter, Parade.