The 1980s-1990s
The AIDS Crisis and Beyond
The AIDS Epidemic in the United States was one of the worst crises in the country’s history, and witness to serious blatant bigotry and governmental neglect.
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency virus) is believed to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa as early as the 1930s. Early cases of AIDS are noted in the late 1970s in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in seemingly-isolated cases. However, at this time there was no way of identifying HIV/AIDS or how it was spread, and it is likely that over 100,000 people on the continent were already infected [1].
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In the wake of the Sexual Revolution of the 1970s, homosexuality began to climb from dirty secret of society swept under the rug into becoming a fact of life and a much more widespread experience. Between 1969 and 1973, at more than 9,000 gay men moved to San Francisco. Between 1974 and 1978, 20,000 more moved there. By 1980, 5,000 homosexual men moved to San Francisco per year. Along with New York City and Los Angeles, San Francisco was a place where gay men could be more safely out, and made up a significant amount of the population. About 2 in 5 adult males in San Francisco were gay in 1980 [1].
In 1981, small populations of previously-healthy gay men were found with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), a rare lung infection, and Kaposi’s Sarcoma, an aggressive type of cancer. PCP was found also in people who injected drugs. 270 gay were reported to have severe immune deficiency, and 121 of them were dead by the end of the year [1].
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As the virus continued to spread and more people began to notice, AIDS became a full-blown epidemic. Thousands of cases were reported by 1983 and half of them had already proven fatal. Many people lived with AIDS at the time without knowing it. AIDS, which is spread through both unprotected sex and blood transfusions. It was possible for a person to be infected with AIDS, have sex with someone, and unwittingly spread the condition onto them.
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The epicenter of the outbreak being in the prominent gay communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, meant that the virus was perceived as a concentrated, isolated event. Rather than affecting meaningful legislation of giving the CDC proper funding for meaningful research into AIDS or to try to develop a cure. The spread of AIDS being largely amongst homosexuals meant that it was perceived to be a consequence of homosexuality and moral-sexual deviancy. Pat Buchanan, the leader of White House Communications under the Regan Administration wrote in 1983, “The poor homosexuals—they have declared war on nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution.” [2].
Rock Hudson
October 2nd, 1985, Rock Hudson, Hollywood actor and friend of President Ronald Regan passed away due to AIDS-related complications. The tragedy of Hudson’s passing shook the nation, not only because a long-beloved celebrity had passed, but because the tacit existence of AIDS, looming in the corners of American minds for years, broke into the forefront. But by the time AIDS became a household term and a legitimate issue, over 12,000 American were already dead or dying of the virus [1].
American Film Star Rock Hudson, Public Domain
Later Years
The knowledge that AIDS could be spread between heterosexuals did not become well-known until after AIDS had already been deemed a disease of the homosexual. However, additionally to sexual transmission, HIV/AIDS can be transferred through the sharing of needles, blood transfusions, and from mother to child. The fear of the heterosexual transfer of AIDS sparked fear in the general population and led to more research into drugs and prevention, but it was still insufficient [1].
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AIDS-prevention advertising campaigns within states largely encouraged condom use, attempting to alter public behavior rather than setting agendas to improve awareness and education. This created anxiety regarding whether promoting condom use would encourage promiscuity, one of the main ways the disease was spread in the first place. Many of these campaigns did not target drug users as an audience who needed to be informed about how HIV was spread [3].
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In 1987, ACT UP rallies commenced on Wall Street protesting the big money pharmaceutical companies that produced AZT, a drug found to help some AIDS victims but was made largely unavailable because of the exorbitant price [4].
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On October 11th, 1987 there was a march on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which included the displaying of the Quilt, a growing memorial to those who died of AIDS. At its debut, the Quilt included 1,920 panels and was larger than a football field. The next year, it had 8,288 panels. There are now more than 48,000 panels in the Quilt, each commemorating a life lost to AIDS [5].
"RIOT" by Gran Fury, Public Domain
Rallies continued into the 1990s, including a die-in at President George H. W. Bush’s vacation home September 1st, 1991, and a demonstration blocking the Queens-Midtown tunnel protesting Mayor Guiliani’s cuts to AIDS research and social services April 25th, 1995 [4].
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AIDS treatment has significantly improved in the 21st century, as have rights and equality for LGBTQ+ people. However, the AIDS crisis was one of the most destructive and criminally-neglected pandemics in history due largely to bigotry and prejudice. According to the CDC, between 1987-1989 alone, 70,313 men and women died from HIV/AIDS [6]. From 1980-1999, 733,374 cases of HIV/AIDS had been reported, and 429,825 people had died from HIV/AIDS [7].
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act, enacted on September 10th, 1996, defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Any relationship that did not fit these parameters did not receive the same benefits from the government as traditional husbands and wives. This bill barred same-sex couples from receiving insurance benefits, social security survivors’ benefits, immigration, bankruptcy, filing of joint tax returns along with other benefits [8]. President Bill Clinton signed this into law, and it remained active until ruled unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor. Despite this law’s existence, between its signing and repeal, a myriad of states legalized same-sex marriage independently.
References
Background Photo: "Storm the NIH" from NIH History Office, Public Domain
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(1) Shilts, Randy. And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic. St. Martin’s Press,
1987.
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(2) Volsky, Igor. “FLASHBACK - Buchanan: AIDS Is Nature's 'Awful Retribution' Against Homosexuality.” ThinkProgress, 24 May 2011, thinkprogress.org/flashback-buchanan-aids-is-natures-awful-retribution-against-homosexuality-2049a2734cfb/.
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(3) Bush, Alan J., and Victoria Davies. “State Governments' Response to the AIDS Crisis: An Advertising Perspective.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, vol. 8, 1989, pp. 53–63. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30000312.
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(4) "ACT UP Accomplishment Chronology in Brief." ACT UP New York. https://endaids.actupny.com/actions/index.php/act-up-news/70-latest-news/106-act-up-chronology-in-brief
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(5) "The AIDS Memorial Quilt." The AIDS Memorial Quilt. http://www.aidsquilt.org/about/the-aids-memorial-quilt
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(6) CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-1989-vol-2.pdf
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(7) "30 Years of HIV/AIDS: Snapshots of an Epidemic." amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research. http://www.amfar.org/thirty-years-of-hiv/aids-snapshots-of-an-epidemic/
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(8) United States. Cong. House. Defense of Marriage Act. 1996. 104th Cong. 2nd sess. H. Rept. 3396. Web. 25
March 2018.