What I remember most from that time was that AIDS was, back then, called "Karposi's Sarcoma" and some people thought it was "the gay plague". There were a significant number of people who were actually celebrating the fact that gay men were dying. They waved their Bibles and babbled on about God's will and other such crap. The televangelists, especially that pile-of-human-shit in Virginia (he ran for president in `88), were actually gleeful about people dying.
And he wasn't the only one. I was stationed in the South in that time and I read the local papers. There were op-ed pieces and letters to the editor that proclaimed AIDS as a sign of God's wrath on sinners. If there ever was a clear indication that "love the sinner, hate the sin" was nothing but bullshit, the outpouring of hatred over AIDS was it.
It was pretty disgusting to see that so many people in this country had so little humanity. And they haven't changed very much.
A missing man formation.......as in the flyby.
ReplyDeleteI'm missing my 4 years older brother Bill, gone of Valley Fever and AIDS in '84 when it was the Grim Reaper and no doubt the Black Spot.
http://www.sdean.net/myfamily.htm#Bill
I remember Ryan White...all the religious types fighting to keep him away from their kids cause just seeing him might risk their lives...demanding he be educated at home, alone, preferably by phone.
ReplyDeleteHere is Al Pacino playing Roy Cohn dealing with his HIV diagnosis. The subtext of the Reagans' utter disregard of of the crisis comes through over Cohn's arrogant ignorance:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fBiOVEcyI
-Doug in Oakland
I remember well the connection between AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma. I do not remember anyone confusing the two.
ReplyDelete