One of Elizbeth Taylor's last tweets (she was on Twitter as DameELizabeth)

[tpsbmam]

She was one of the people to help move AIDS from the dreaded mystery disease that left sufferers shunned & stigmatized to a better overall understanding of the disease, removing the idiotic fear mongering about the spread of AIDS. Here's a little from her foundation (The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation):

Elizabeth Taylor began her work as a spokesperson and fundraiser in the struggle against AIDS in the early 1980s. A mysterious virus had appeared in the community, a fatal illness of unknown origin that sent shockwaves of fear across the nation. Great stigma accompanied this fear, and Miss Taylor's determined outspokenness was indeed controversial.

Miss Taylor’s work began with fundraising for an AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) dinner, the first major AIDS benefit ever held. This support marked the debut of her public commitment to raising funds and awareness for AIDS.

In 1985, Miss Taylor joined with Dr. Mathilde Krim and a small group of physicians and scientists to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). As amfAR’s Founding National Chairman, she used her celebrity to take the issue of HIV/AIDS to the mainstream media.

Miss Taylor became a potent force in mobilizing the entertainment, arts and fashion communities to step up their initiatives in connection with AIDS, traveling extensively to speak at conferences, concert venues and benefit events around the globe. She testified before Congress to ensure Senate support for the Ryan White CARE Act, spoke before the National Press Club, and addressed the General Assembly at the United Nations on World AIDS Day.

Her foundation's focus is providing direct service to people with HIV & AIDS.

More at:

http://www.elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/about-etaf

She gave and so many grew and lived and thrived because of her. Goodbye to a fabulous person, a great progressive and one who gave endlessly of herself.


:loveya: :applause:

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Raksha]

2. K & R in memory of a great lady.

[femrap]

3. She was a GREAT WOMAN!

May she look over us and hopefully nudge humankind in the 'giving' direction.

[shraby]

4. She's proof that sometimes beauty isn't just skin deep.

[Raschel]

5. Wouldn't we all love to have that as one of our last statements.

[patrice]

6. a truly Great Woman. I've always admired her honesty.

[G_j]

7. K&R

Thank You Liz..

[KT2000]

8. She made a difference

in this world.
What a beautiful thing for her to leave us with.

[tpsbmam]

10. I certainly hope it made her approaching death that much easier to face

knowing that she had a full life and, really, spent the second half of it was spent making this world a better place and breathing life (literally and figuratively), understanding, knowledge and compassion into global treatment of AIDS. My god, what a legacy.

When you look at the totality of her life, it's really pretty remarkable starting with this beautiful 12 yo in National Velvet.

I remember having an argument with a friend who dissed ET, paying attention mostly to the gossip rags while really knowing little about her. She actually claimed ET she was known for her looks & scandals, not for her acting. I made her come rent (early days of VCRs) "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe" and watch it with me. She had to totally eat her words. I was too young to see it when it came out -- I remember seeing it later at a screening I went to. I sat for a good 10 minutes afterward just stunned -- her Oscar-winning performance remains to this day one of the most powerful, remarkable and courageous I've ever seen.

Boy, if people haven't seen that movie, see it. Amazing. It's also the film she wanted to be remembered for -- pressed in an interview to pick which film she'd want to be remembered for and she answered "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe." I heartily agree.

(I've been a lifelong fan.)

[shireen]

9. A wonderful lady

she contributed towards making the world a better place ... it's my wish to do the same.
Thanks for the inspiration, Ms. Taylor.

[SemperEadem]

11. I followed her on twitter

rest in peace, dear lady.

[kestrel91316]

12. Though I sometimes thought her silly, vapid, and superficial like so many

other Hollywood celebrities, in truth she was an honorable, enlightened woman who gave back to the world far more than she got.

RIP, lovely lady.

[trud]

14. A mother to everyone in her vicinity, I gather n/t

[grahamhgreen]

13. Reminded me to give to Japan...

[On the Road]

dupe

[On the Road]

15. That is a Really Nice Sentiment

and it deserves to be requoted frequently.

[Orsino]

16. She was human.

One of the things she gave us was Sen. John Warner (I met her on the campaign trail), during what seems to have been one of the low points in her life. While he was one of the least odious figures in the GOP, I will always count him as red ink in her moral account.

She went on to do some great good.