The Gay Plague: The Homophobia of the AIDS Crisis

THREE S LATER, MEN WHO SURVIVED THE 'GAY PLAGUE' SPEAK OUT
‘GAY PLAGUE’: THE VILE, HORRIFIC AND HUMANE WAY THE MEDIA REPORTED THE AIDS CRISIS
THIS MAN SPENT 25 YEARS FIGHTG NEWSPAPERS OVER THEIR ANTI-GAY REPORTG AND FALLY WON
1980S. HIV/AIDS: WHY WAS AIDS LLED ‘THE GAY PLAGUE’?
THE GAY PLAGUE: HOMOSEXUALY AND DISEASE
THE GAY PLAGUE: THE HOMOPHOBIA OF THE AIDS CRISIS

THREE S LATER, MEN WHO SURVIVED THE 'GAY PLAGUE' SPEAK OUT

Gay men who were diagnosed wh HIV the 1980s, before any treatment was available, reflect on the epimic they survived. * gay plague headlines *

When he met and fell love wh his boyiend, Calv, at a chemil engeerg nference Hoton, Vergel cid to live “gay plague, ” as was referred to at the time, was rockg the natn. ”"Fury, rage and actn"In 1987, a fiery speech was livered at the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Communy Servic Center Manhattan.

Gay playwright and activist Larry Kramer, who would go on to found the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), had been slated to be a substute speaker for wrer and activist San Sontag. ”It was a ll to arms, and Eric Sawyer, a young gay man om upstate New York, answered himself had bee symptomatic the early onset of the vis, '81 when the first reports on HIV were g out, and his boyiend died om plitns due to AIDS 1984. The mayor of New York, Ed Koch, was also a target for not dog anythg to help gay the aims, ACT UP was unpromisg and willg to shock people who preferred to ignore the epimic.

To mark the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day on Saturday (December 1), PkNews has looked at how the gay muny were treated by the tabloid media durg the AIDS crisis the UK, cludg the sudn ath of US actor Rock Hudson 1985, which sparked speculatn about his sexualy. Men who have sex wh men were, and still are, disproportnately impacted by HIV bee transms much more easily through anal sex than through vagal first official ernment report on AIDS me on June 5, 1981, the Morbidy and Mortaly Weekly Report, a ernment bullet on perplexg disease s: “In the perd October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for bpsy-nfirmed Pnmocystis rii pnmonia at 3 different hospals Los Angel, California. ”In a 1983 appearance on NBC's "Today" show, activist and Gay Mens Health Crisis -founr Larry Kramer asked host Jane Pley, "Jane, n you image what mt be like if you had lost 20 of your iends the last 18 months?

‘GAY PLAGUE’: THE VILE, HORRIFIC AND HUMANE WAY THE MEDIA REPORTED THE AIDS CRISIS

When the AIDS crisis h the UK the 1980s, the tabloid prs seized the opportuny to further monise gay and bisexual men. * gay plague headlines *

"It's a very angry muny, " Kramer as the natn's attentn was directed toward gay AIDS victims, the vis was replitg the bloodstreams of hemophiliacs and jectn dg ers.

'GAY PLAGUE'After the Stonewall Rts 1969, LGBTQ activists across the untry ma signifint civil rights advanc and secured some municipal and state-level protectns agast discrimatn public employment. Jerry Falwell, whose “Moral Majory” veighed agast givg rights to gay and anti-gay activist Ana Bryant heads a csa to nullify a lol gay rights ordance, Feb. She lled the group "Save Our Children" and said reprented the rights of the majory of fileOn March 22, 1980, a year before that first MMWR report, evangelil Christian lears livered a petn to Print Jimmy Carter mandg a halt to the advance of gay rights.

“God’s judgment is gog to fall on Ameri as on other societi that allowed homosexualy to bee a protected way of life, ” Bob Jon III predicted, acrdg to the anti-gay reactn gaed steam across Ameri wh the electn of Moral Majory ally Ronald Reagan, activists found their mands for attentn for a growg medil crisis were ignored.

THIS MAN SPENT 25 YEARS FIGHTG NEWSPAPERS OVER THEIR ANTI-GAY REPORTG AND FALLY WON

TV drama It’s a S looked back at a dark era for the gay muny. Here, some of those who remember tell of the real-life agony – and the hope * gay plague headlines *

One such group was the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, found New York Cy 1982, which is today the olst HIV/AIDS service anizatn the Men's Health Crisis Smh / NY Daily News via Getty Imag fileBut 1987, activists were still trated by ernment actn as bodi ntued to pile up, and they found the AIDS Coaln To Unleash Power, or ACT UP, New York, their actns and their activist art are legendary for speedg the ernment’s rponse to the AIDS crisis, allowg quicker ttg and treatment of lifavg experimental dgs, and drawg public attentn to the adly impact of homophobic public health polici.

In New York, December 1989 ACT UP and took over St Patrick’s 1991, Activist Peter Staley draped a giant ndom over the home of noted homophobic senator Jse Helms om North Carola.

1980S. HIV/AIDS: WHY WAS AIDS LLED ‘THE GAY PLAGUE’?

* gay plague headlines *

13, 1996, San Diego agast GOP polici on AIDS awarens and gay Her / Boston Globe via Getty Imag fileIn 1996, for the first time, AIDS aths dropped by 23 percent. But now, thanks to Rsell T Davi’s movg five-part Channel 4 drama seri, It’s a S, we are all able to look at a vivid, troublg and yet ultimately upliftg picture of those dark and adly younger dienc, may be shockg to learn jt how exclud and hidn the gay muny was om mastream life. Homosexualy had only been legal sce 1967, the age of nsent was still 21 and same-sex civil marriage was a quarter of a century away.

It was route, as It’s a S remds , for gay men and lbians to nceal their sexual inti om their fai and was the furtive environment which Aids surfaced.

Then beme known as “Grid” – gay-related immune ficiency – before acquired immunoficiency syndrome was fally ed (Aids) spread to the UK, a muny that was jt begng to fd s public voice and nfince was hered back to the shadows by a homophobic prs mpaign. Terms like the “gay plague” were wily ed and the belief was fostered that the disease uld be transmted by any kd of gay muny was held spicn by all sectors of society, cludg the health service where, aga as Davi shows, Aids patients were often placed harsh ndns of isolatn.

THE GAY PLAGUE: HOMOSEXUALY AND DISEASE

The early years of AIDS were a time of great fear and anxiety for gay men around the world.* The bulk of this was generated by the myster and lethal nature of this new ndn. But there was another element that exacerbated the suatn - the homophobia whipped up by irrponsible media. Central to this * gay plague headlines *

As wh the current panmic, many people died lonely aths, only the se of HIV there was no medil reason for their as bleak as the perd was, also gave birth to an upsurge gay activism and support groups that helped transform the posn of the gay muny this, four people who were at the foreont of the stggl brought so powerfully to life It’s a S, tell their stori their own Whaker, the -founr of the Terence Higgs Tst. His fay swooped and kicked out all the gay iends and forced him on his ath bed to rent his homosexualy and accept the last r or he was gog to burn had the most vile thgs done to people who were credibly vulnerable. But I thk we wouldn’t have gay marriage now if hadn’t been for Aids, bee showed first of all that we were real people and Whaker is a psychiatrist and one of Europe’s longt-survivg people wh HIV.

He -found the Terrence Higgs Tst, named after his partner who was one of the first people the UK to die om Aids-related illns July Power, left, who worked on the Gay Swchboard the 1980s. ‘It was a time of nfn and then a time of nsirable fear’Lisa Power, sexual health and LGBT rights mpaignerI was workg on the Gay Swchboard durg the Aids outbreak.

We were basilly a helple to give out rmatn on what gay bars there were Burnley or to support someone who was feelg lonely and wanted to e out. A lot of young gay men had moved to London so that they uld be gay their social life but didn’t have to tell their parents back home. ”This was the time when gay pubs didn’t have wdows, (a) bee they would have been stoved and (b) nobody would go if they uld be seen om the outsi.