The AIDS crisis

Many of us already know about the AIDS crisis, but not so in-depth, just that it happened. But it wasn’t just some little thing. Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 675,000 people with AIDS in the United States have died, and even today, nearly 13,000 people with AIDS in the United States die each year. That’s more than the number of Americans who died in Vietnam (58,220). And it is largely ignored. A reason behind that could be homophobia, as almost all of those who contracted it were queer men, or just plain ignorance. But I think we should all know a little more about the crisis that wiped out a generation of queer people in the United States.

The epidemic started in the mid-to-late 70s, but never really came into the public eye until the 80s. In 1981, there were over 270 reported cases of immune system deficiency among gay men, and many had already died. During the early stages in the first few years of the 80s, it became known as “gay cancer.” The disease is associated with drug use and homosexuality, and despite doctors suspecting it is sex-linked and the CDC saying that touch isn’t the issue, many fell into the belief that even casually touching someone with the disease could spread it.

The idea of AIDS as a “gay plague” or “gay disease” or anything of the sort was extremely misleading and homophobic. It wasn’t only gay men who could get the disease, so people who believed that were put at risk by not actually researching what to do to protect themselves. These ideas also created huge problems for the gay community, who suddenly had to fight battles about housing, job, and school discrimination. Many extreme religious people spoke harshly about those living with AIDS, saying it was punishment for homosexuals going against nature.

Reagan was the president at the time of the AIDS crisis, and there are mixed opinions about his actions. Though the epidemic was well known in the early 80s, Reagan never even publicly mentioned the word until 1985. Many berated him for his administration's low budget spent to help solve the crisis, with congress deciding it was too little and boosting funds from 70 million to nearly 190 million. Many activists condemn Reagan for failing to even mention AIDS during his first term, saying that if the problem had been tackled earlier it may have been less of a crisis, and more lives could have been saved. Others argue that his commitment later on and his large funding of research was enough.

In the 1990s, more effective treatments were found against AIDS. But it is not just history, and the story does not come down to just facts. Many people lost their lives, slowly and painfully, all the while being berated by much of society for their sexuality. In 1987, the AIDS quilt was put on display in Washington D.C., as a memorial to those lost. Today, there are over 48,000 individual 3-by-6-foot panels that have been hand-made and sewn together by friends and family alike to honor those who have died.



Another haunting image shows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir in 1993. Those in black symbolize those in the choir who died from AIDS. An entire generation of queer people wiped out.



The AIDS crisis is one that cannot be forgotten, and one that still affects us today, all over the world. There are many campaigns working to get better treatments, pushing people to get checked for HIV, and trying to eradicate it. There is still no cure for AIDS, only a strict treatment. I believe it is extremely important to remember those who lost their lives to this awful disease, and the steps backwards we took in tolerance and acceptance at that time. I cannot share every fact and detail about this horrific disease and time period, but there is so much more than the summary I put here, and so many more stories that I could not share. The AIDS quilt is available to view online if anyone wishes to do so.

Sources:
https://www.aidsquilt.org/about/the-aids-memorial-quilt
http://www.factlv.org/timeline.htm
https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview
https://www.amfar.org/thirty-years-of-hiv/aids-snapshots-of-an-epidemic/
https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1980s-america/a/emergence-of-the-aids-crisis
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics
https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/todaysepidemic-508.pdf
https://sdgln.com/causes/2017/11/28/picture-1993-reminds-people-loss-life-due-aids