Gay men who were diagnosed wh HIV the 1980s, before any treatment was available, reflect on the epimic they survived.
Contents:
- THREE S LATER, MEN WHO SURVIVED THE 'GAY PLAGUE' SPEAK OUT
- 1980S. HIV/AIDS: WHY WAS AIDS LLED ‘THE GAY PLAGUE’?
- CHAPTER ONE: HOW FASHN WAS FOREVER CHANGED BY “THE GAY PLAGUE”
- ‘GAY PLAGUE’: THE VILE, HORRIFIC AND HUMANE WAY THE MEDIA REPORTED THE AIDS CRISIS
- THE GAY PLAGUE: THE HOMOPHOBIA OF THE AIDS CRISIS
- THE GAY PLAGUE: HOMOSEXUALY AND DISEASE
THREE S LATER, MEN WHO SURVIVED THE 'GAY PLAGUE' SPEAK OUT
* aids the gay plague *
Kg said he had to ask himself the early '80s when iends and loved on were dyg of the "gay plague.
KgGay men weren’t supposed to get tted at the time, Kg said, bee there wasn’t a sgle treatment available anyway. On TV, policians on both sis of the aisle were batg earnt whether gay people should be quaranted.
Instead, he found himself at an epicenter of the HIV outbreak that would shape the gay world the Uned Stat for years to e.
1980S. HIV/AIDS: WHY WAS AIDS LLED ‘THE GAY PLAGUE’?
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 * aids the gay plague *
An immigrant om Venezuela, Vergel told NBC News he left his home untry bee he was gay and seekg a more supportive environment. 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.
He "recloseted" himself, he said, both at work and the gay muny. At work, he didn’t want anyone to know he was gay. At the gay clubs, he didn’t want anyone to know he was HIV tend to e to the U.
CHAPTER ONE: HOW FASHN WAS FOREVER CHANGED BY “THE GAY PLAGUE”
When the AIDS crisis h the UK the 1980s, the tabloid prs seized the opportuny to further monise gay and bisexual men. * aids the gay plague *
”"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. “If what you’re hearg don’t roe you to anger, fury, rage and actn, gay men will have no future here on earth.
‘GAY PLAGUE’: THE VILE, HORRIFIC AND HUMANE WAY THE MEDIA REPORTED THE AIDS CRISIS
”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.
THE GAY PLAGUE: THE HOMOPHOBIA OF THE AIDS CRISIS
He, like many gay and bisexual men wh HIV, had been holdg on to a folr wh his memorial service plans. Every gay man should be on PrEP, and every gay man should get tted.
He said he wants a new generatn of gay men to be proud of the muny they e om. The early years of AIDS were a time of great fear and anxiety for gay men around the world.
But there was another element that exacerbated the suatn – the homophobia whipped up by irrponsible media. Central to this was the staed e of the terms ‘gay plague’ and ‘gay bug’ when referrg to AIDS. A ‘Gay’ Disease?
THE GAY PLAGUE: HOMOSEXUALY AND DISEASE
As for the ‘gay’ nnectn, there is no doubt that AIDS was first tected gay men and, for a brief perd, sperate rearchers examed the so-lled ‘gay liftyle’ for clu as to atn. Sadly, this rulted the creatn of the acronym GRID – “Gay Related Immune Deficiency”. But GRID was only adopted om early 1982 until July 27th 1982, when the Centers for Disease Control realised, amongst other thgs, that there’s no such thg as a universal “gay liftyle”.
Even referenc to Kaposi’s Sara as “the gay ncer” the gay media had tailed off by December 1982.
(For example, ‘”Gay ncer” and poppers are not lked’, HIM Monthly, December 1982). And yet media age of the terms ‘gay plague’ and ‘gay bug’ was only jt begng.