Dean Goishi is a third-generation Sansei, born in 1943 in the concentration camp at Poston, Arizona. After the war, his family settled in Reedley, in the Central Valley of California. Dean attended the University of California Berkeley, and then entered the military. After his discharge, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1979.
The following year, Dean became a founding member of Asian/Pacific Lesbians and Gays (A/PLG now, Asian Pacific Gays and Friends), the first organization for LGBTQ Asian Americans in Los Angeles. He also volunteered at the Manzanar Committee and the Japanese American Citizens League. These roles encouraged Dean’s budding community activism.
Dean became chair of A/PLG’s AIDS Intervention Team (AIT) in 1987 to address the AIDS epidemic that had been impacting its members. In an interview, Dean said, “We started to see gay Asians die, and they were dying by themselves. They would keep it [HIV status] hidden until nothing could be done. When we found out about it, all we could do was hold their hands and watch them die, make it more comfortable for them to pass away…At that point, a group of us decided that we had to organize to catch up with the rest of the gay community because we were so far behind.”
Shortly after its establishment, AIT successfully lobbied the Asian Pacific Planning Council (A3PCON, now AAPI Equity Alliance) to institutionalize an HIV/AIDS committee, marking the first time the AIDS epidemic (and LGBTQ people) was being acknowledged by mainstream Asian American leaders in Los Angeles. A/PLG and other A3PCON members organizations formed a partnership called the Asian Pacific AIDS Education Project, which secured county funding to conduct preventive outreach in diverse ethnic communities. Dean became the full-time project director of this multi-agency effort, marking his first paid job in the AIDS movement.
In 1992, with increase in public funding for its AIDS outreach and services, AIT split off from A/PLG and become a division of Special Service for Groups, called Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT, now called Access to Prevention Advocacy Intervention and Treatment). Dean followed this transition and became APAIT’s founding director. Under his leadership, APAIT expanded its services to include case management, mental health services, and treatment advocacy. He also worked tirelessly with AIDS service organizations in other communities of color, primarily through the Gay Men of Color Consortium and the National Minority AIDS Council, to advocate for equitable funding for HIV and AIDS services in marginalized communities.
After he retired from APAIT in 2000, Dean worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy. In 2003, the Los Angeles LGBT Center appointed Dean as the director of its AIDS Clearinghouse.
Dean is fondly remembered by fellow activists and colleagues as a “silent giant,” whose style was known as reserved but spoke poignantly to make his advocacy points across. Simply put, people listened when Dean spoke. Dean is also remembered by many young activists and advocates he’s mentored as someone who let them lead and be independent. Dean is remembered by friends for his bold sense of style and humor. He was not shy to make fun of himself in the spirit of camaraderie and friendship.
Dean is survived by his partner of many years, Tom Callahan, a former nurse who had taken care of his share of AIDS patients during the epidemic, including a few of their friends. They had met in 1991 in Los Angeles. Their relationship was fortified in the frontlines against AIDS. Tom often gushed about Dean’s accomplishments that Dean was too humble to bring up, and Dean once said, “Tom’s support kept my head above water. You cannot underestimate the value of knowing somebody would pop me up when I was down.”
Dean passed away on June 9, 2024, in Lake Alfred, Florida, where the two had moved after Dean’s retirement.