Paul Hustoft, later known as Reed, was born in San Diego, California in 1956. He studied music as a child and later obtained degrees in Sociology and Social Anthropology. Reed moved to San Francisco in 1981, shortly after the emergence of the AIDS epidemic. He became an integral part of the Castro gay urban subculture and chronicled the impact of the epidemic in his writing. Reed, who was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1980s, benefited from advances in antiretroviral therapies and participated in experimental HIV treatments. He experienced personal loss due to AIDS, including the death of his lover and friends. Reed passed away in 2002 due to complications of AIDS.