Sebastian Hs, Risky Sex – Risky Language. HIV/AIDS and the Wt German Gay Scene the 1980s, Historil Social Rearch / Historische Sozialforschung, Vol. 41, No. 1 (155), Risk as an Analytil tegory: Selected Studi the Social History of the Twentieth Century (2016), pp. 111-134
Contents:
- HIV/AIDS AND EDUTN: LSONS OM THE 1980S AND THE GAY MALE COMMUNY THE UNED STAT
- HIV IS A STORY FIRST WRTEN ON THE BODI OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
HIV/AIDS AND EDUTN: LSONS OM THE 1980S AND THE GAY MALE COMMUNY THE UNED STAT
HIV and the syndrome , AIDS, began spreadg the Uned Stat the early 1980s. By the late 1980s had bee a public health crisis. Inially the U.S. ernment did ltle to addrs the epimic, due part to misnceptns that the disease only affected gay men. Activists me together to mand a rponse om the ernment and the ternatnal muny. By the mid-1990s, HIV/AIDS numbers were on the cle Ameri. Today, lns of people around the world are livg wh HIV and tens of thoands of people die of AIDS-related illns every year. * hiv gay 1980s *
Origally intified as a “gay disease” bee gay men were one of the primary groups afflicted, HIV and the syndrome , Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, were unknown 1981 but had bee hoehold terms and the number one threat to public health by the late 1980s. For several years after the Center for Disease Control first realized that the illns croppg up muni around the untry were all the work of the same vis, the Amerin ernment did ltle to addrs the epimic, a failure to act that many attribute to the fact that HIV/AIDS was primarily affectg gay men, traveno dg ers, immigrants and racial activists, medil profsnals, artists and a number of people wh AIDS who went public wh their diagnos spe the stigma surroundg the disease eventually spurred a massive rponse om the U.
HIV IS A STORY FIRST WRTEN ON THE BODI OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
* hiv gay 1980s *
A Gay Men's Crisis1980April 24 – The CDC receiv a report on Ken Horne, a gay man livg San Francis who is sufferg om Kaposi’s Sara, a rare and unually aggrsive ncer lked wh weakened immuny. 1981May 18 – Lawrence Mass, a gay doctor New York Cy, wr an article for The New York Native, an LGBT newspaper, tled “Disease Rumors Largely Unfound. ” Although the headle would soon be proven false, his report that a number of gay men have been admted to New York Cy tensive re un wh severely promised immune systems is the first article to mentn what soon be known as 5, 1981 – The CDC publish an article scribg five s of a rare lung fectn young, otherwise healthy gay men Los Angel, two of whom have died and three of whom die a short time after.
Knowledge is power: If we learned anythg the gay male muny durg the early days of the HIV/AIDS epimic the Uned Stat, was that. No one knew what had h , and people were dyg huge numbers all around . The muny lost iends, lleagu, and timate partners. Inially mislabeled gay-related immune ficiency (GRID), valuable time was lost rpondg to the crisis bee most felt safe the belief that they were not at risk. Sce early victims were predomantly gay men, the stigma attached to homosexualy the medil, erng, law enforcement and eccliastil stutns beme a barrier to unrstandg, preventn, and treatment. * hiv gay 1980s *
This article is often ced as the official begng of the AIDS 1981 – An LGBT newspaper San Francis, The Bay Area Reporter, wr about “Gay Men’s Pnmonia” and urg gay men experiencg shortns of breath to see a doctor. The New York Tim article “Rare Cancer Seen 41 Homosexuals” leads to the g of the term “gay ncer” to scribe Kaposi’s 11, 1981 – Wrer and film producer Larry Kramer hosts a fundraiser his New York Cy apartment, at which Dr. Kramer soon -founds the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), a muny-based non-prof dited to servg the muny throughout the emergg crisis.