Oral history interview with Barbara Chinn

Chinn grew up in Northwest Washington, DC and became cognizant of her differing sexuality during her childhood, however she did not connect with the LGBT community until young adulthood. When she was around nineteen or twenty years old, a significant other introduced her to the club scene on Irving Street. She and her friends frequented placed like Steve’s, Kenyan’s Bar and Grill, Bob’s Inn, Louis and the Rogue, and the Otherside. She was involved in social clubs called the Best of Washington (a historically African American LGBT social club) and the 5 Point 5(around 5:30min?). Some of these organizations threw house parties as a means of safe socialization.

During her house party days, Chinn lived in Congress Heights with her partner. In 1991, she used her experience of living east of the river to convince the board of the Max Robinson Center that there was need for LGBT-centered healthcare in that area. The Max Robinson Center opened soon after in Southeast DC 1992.

Chinn became involved with DC’s response to the AIDS crisis when her friends were diagnosed with the disease in 1981 and 1982. At the time, Chinn was working in the field of property management where her main interaction with the LGBT community was the protection of the anonymity of gay tenants. After the losses of her friends to AIDS, Chinn was driven to redirect her skillsets into helping the community. She applied to be the housing director at Whitman-Walker clinic in 1987.

As housing director for the Whitman-Walker clinics, Chinn managed five properties in northwestern DC—including Robert N. Swartz, M.D. House, and a number of other locations sponsored by the Swartz Housing Services. These properties housed the clinic’s patients. Chinn became educated about AIDS through personal experiences with friends and in the field as an employee of Whitman-Walker. She began giving educational talks about HIV with ICCAN and Impact DC. Eventually, she was promoted by Whitman-Walker to deputy executive director and director of prevention, education, and support services.

In the 1990s, Chinn was on the planning committee to negotiate the location of the next clinic, to be named the Max Robinson Center. She cites the choice of location as a paradoxical issue, much debated within the gay African American community where the clinic was to be situated. The clinic needed to be visible to the community stricken with AIDS, but not so visible that the patients would be under scrutiny. When the new clinic was opened, they were met with hostility from local residents, churches, and groups worried that Whitman-Walker would “bring HIV to [their] community.” Part of the job was convincing the outlying community that Whitman-Walker was there to treat those already infected.

Additionally, as an African American woman on the staff of Whitman-Walker, Chinn confronted the organization’s board about catering to their predominantly African American clients and employees. She reported that most of the client base drew from the surrounding African American community, although white clients would come for more specific services. She estimated that 40% of their clients identified as LGBTQ, however patients don’t often disclose the information.

In 1995, Chinn became the director of the Max Robinson Center after personnel and leadership conflicts. As of this recording (2007), she has worked there for 12 years and hopes to open a new facility for their increasing clientele before she retires.