Bill Kraus

Who was Bill Kraus?

William James "Bill" Kraus was an American gay rights and AIDS activist and congressional aide who served as a liaison between the San Francisco gay community and Congress in the 1980s.

Kraus was a 1965 graduate of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. He attended Dartmouth for a semester and then Ohio State University in 1968, where he graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in history. He went on to become an aide to U.S. Representatives Phillip and Sala Burton.

Upon arriving in Castro Street in San Francisco, he learned the meticulous nature of politics through Harvey Milk, who was the first elected gay city supervisor. Bill Kraus would be the president of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club. After Milk's assassination, Kraus would help Harry Britt to be elected as Milk's successor to city supervisor.

He garnered a job as gay liaison to Congressman Phillip Burton. Together, they worked on legislation and funding to fight "gay cancer," later to be named AIDS. Through the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Kraus conducted a "safe-sex" campaign, endlessly trying to bring awareness to the gay community of the dangers of unsafe sexual intercourse. Part of their campaign was demanding the closing of San Francisco's gay bathhouses. Kraus was hit back with criticism from the gay community, being called a "sexual Nazi."