AIDS in the '80s: taboo or not?

[Yooper]

The illness was talked about in the early 80's, but not enough.

Early 80's there was a lot of rumbling about the 'Gay Flu', and those of us in our late teens/early 20's were nervous about it but there was little information as little was actually known, and what was known was pretty limited.

When it started to be called GRID (Gay Related Immunity Disorder) it got scarier. Some of the folks my age were advised to 'go straight', a process that did not go very well, myself included. Some of us just quit having sex or going out or doing too very much. Sadly, most of the folks I knew back then did not quit sleeping around, and nearly all of them are now gone.

By the mid 80's the health community had a better handle on the problem and when it became HIV/AIDS finally more information was available and the disease was much more talked about.

PM me if you need more than this.

 

[Croynan]

Eric,

you might want to look into the history of the AIDS Quilt which became of significant interest in this country especially around 1985. i think it will give you some important back ground material that might be of value to you in your research about the 80's and attitudes towards AIDS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAMES_Project_AIDS_Memorial_Quilt​

also, if you have not come across it yet, there is a superb book (and film on DVD) called "And The Band Played On" which chronicles the events of the AIDS crises from its early origins intot the mid to late 1980's. (it was published in in '87 and was written by a journalist who came down with AIDS and detail the events of the times) i think it will give you a good look at what was happing in America during this period of time regarding the AIDS crises.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Band_Played_On​

good luck with your thesis.

eM.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

I know AIDS was almost completely ignored in the mainstream/heterosexual media.

Where are you getting that from? I know you're too young to remember, but believe me, AIDS was one of the most reported topics in the 80's, to the point where I got sick of hearing about it.

Checking the New York Times archive for the period from 1981 (which is as far back as they go) through 1989, I see that there are 9,177 references to AIDS, or about 3 a day on average.

PS I saw As Is on Broadway, is that one of your plays?

http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4372

I guess I must have seen it in 1985.

EDIT: Oops, that was dumb, obviously many of the references are to the word "aids" since their search isn't case sensitive.

Checking for "auto immune deficiency syndrome" I get only 14 hits for 1983-1989, but I know that can't be right. I'll keep researching...

Second EDIT: HIV gets 344 hits, but since that term didn't come into use until 1986, that's by no means all the references to AIDS.

I'll keep looking, but for now -- let me assure you, AIDS was one of the most obsessively discussed topics in all the mainstream media in the US throughout the 80's. In fact, I would say coverage dropped off considerably in the 90's.

Third EDIT: From February 1983 through the end of 1989, "AIDS" appeared in headlines in the Times 2,715 times, and a spot check suggests that they were virtually all references to the disease.

I think what people are remembering is that President Reagan never said anything about AIDS until 1987 (when he had an AIDS test because of blood transfusions). But that doesn't mean everybody else wasn't talking about it.

This is how urban legends get started...

 

[Lube]

All I can give you is my perspective--but it wasn't a gay perspective, because I was trying beyond belief to prove my straightness back then ( *sigh* ). In the 80's, I was living in major cities and studying biology in undergrad and graduate school. I had a couple of friends who were gay/lesbian, but I was not involved in the gay community at all.

Certainly due to my hanging out in biology research laboratories, AIDS was discussed a lot. In terms of general interest newspapers and magazines, there was a lot of misinformation, but it did seem like it was discussed quite a bit.

Now, whether anything constructive was done about it is another story.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Now, whether anything constructive was done about it is another story.

Depends what you mean by something. Many many medical researchers switched to working on AIDS, if only (to be cynical) because they knew the first person to find a vaccine or cure would get an automatic Nobel.

And lots of other things were done by lots of people in lots of places*. Certainly not enough, obviously.

*Yes, I know that's vague. I've done enough googling for one night...

 

[Lube]

^ I was thinking more along the lines of the US president.

Yes, there was a lot done in the research community. Politically, well, less so. Abstinence was their answer for everything.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Yeah, the Republicans weren't much help. Reagan is said not to have even heard of it till Rock Hudson died.

Which is odd, though, when you think how many gay friends Nancy had. Maybe they didn't want to bother her with such a downer of a conversation topic...

 

[hotdog1846]

^ Well, considering that Reagan was an actor and had plenty of Hollywood friends even into his presidency -- yeah, he knew plenty of gay people, and I'm sure a lot of his gay friends had AIDS.

His seeming ignorance of the issue was because he didn't want to alienate his social conservative and Evangelical Christian supporters, not because he was ignorant.

Anyway, I think the acceptability of discussing AIDS in the 80s depended on where you were. Certainly here in Colorado people talked a lot about AIDS, seemingly no matter who they were -- liberal, conservative, religious, secular, young, old. There was a lot of fear, ignorance, and suspicion, but there was also compassion, concern, and grace. But, those I knew with AIDS didn't reveal the nature of their illnesses because of big-time social stigma, whether they were gay or not.

Even today in the 21st century, the social stigma is still very strong. The most recent person I knew who died of AIDS didn't reveal the nature of his illness to very many people -- only to close family, and that was just a couple of years ago. It's changing, though, largely due to efforts of people like one friend of mine from high school who is HIV+ and does lectures at schools, churches, etc to tell people that if he, the studly high school football jock could get taken down by AIDS, anyone can.

 

[Kyanimal]

I didn't, actually, "Come Out" until 1980, when I turned 30! It was only then that I discovered, and delved into, whole Heartedly, the "Gay Community"/Scene! It was only a bit later that AIDS became a "Topic" that was only referred to on the "down low".

From my perspective, AIDS/HIV was only talked about "Quietly". And that was because of the "Shame" of it being related to a GAY Disease! It was not something to be brought up in "Polite" conversation!

There was a lot of misinformation, and FEAR! And, precisely because it was not a "socially acceptable" subject to talk about, it didn't garner the political/public concern that was so needed at the time. Much needed Information was quietly swept under the rug or completely denied. It was not something to be talked about, except behind discretely held hands over mouths.

Even in the Gay Community, HIV/AIDS was a topic to be avoided. And, this was in spite of thousands of Guys wasting away before our very eyes! The main advice, being put out there, at the time, was not to butt fuck without a condom!

I have not counted how many guys I knew/were acquainted with, who died of AIDS, or how many were "rumored" to be "Positive". I was only "privy" to some who had been diagnosed, for sure, and that was only because I knew them very well. The cause of death, of many others, was presented as "shameful" gossip.

Today ... we know much more about, and can treat, this insidious virus. Yet, STILL, it is mainly thought of as a GAY disease! We've come a long way in understanding, yet, we still have a long way to go! It's now talked about more, but, those discrete hands are yet being held over our whispering mouths.

 

[treanir]

Wow... I didn't expect so many responses.

Where are you getting that from?

PS I saw As Is on Broadway, is that one of your plays?

I got that from, well, supervisor one. He convinced me that was the truth, 'cause he was a Fire Island regular in the 80s and thus knew best. Larry Kramer seemed to confirm it, though I am well-aware he's not the most reliable figure in this.
Silly me for trusting my supervisor.

Yup, As Is is one of my plays. I would love to see it performed one day.
(my other plays are The Normal Heart and Angels in America, which I am going to see in December - yay!)

 

[josher]

Croynan is correct. And The Band Played On should be one of the primary sources for your research.

I was 29 years old when the "gay cancer" rumors began to spread within the gay community in 1979/80.

Within 10 years or so literally dozens of my good friends had died from AIDS.

HIV/AIDS was a major topic of discussion, particularly in large metropolitan areas, both inside and outside the gay community from the very early 80s.

Groups like ACT-UP spearheaded confrontation with governemnt agencies and politicians over the Reagan administration's ignoring of the crisis.

Every major newspaper and magazine frequently published articles about every aspect of the crisis. Of course a lot of false information was disseminated.

Every major city had (and still has) a gay newspaper which covered AIDS and AIDS related issues extensively.

I can assure you that in the US, due to the perceived risks to public health, discussions about HIV/Aids were very widespread from the early 80s on.

It's possible that discussion was more limited in very rural areas, but even small town America was impacted by the crisis.

Interesting that you're focusing on The Normal Heart. Barbra Streisand bought the film rights from Larry Kramer more than 20 years ago (with the understanding that Kramer would write the screenplay) and they've been fighting over the screenplay ever since, so the movie has never been made. Two gigantic egos incapable of compromise.

 

[josher]

I didn't, actually, "Come Out" until 1980, when I turned 30! It was only then that I discovered, and delved into, whole Heartedly, the "Gay Community"/Scene! It was only a bit later that AIDS became a "Topic" that was only referred to on the "down low".

From my perspective, AIDS/HIV was only talked about "Quietly". And that was because of the "Shame" of it being related to a GAY Disease! It was not something to be brought up in "Polite" conversation!

There was a lot of misinformation, and FEAR! And, precisely because it was not a "socially acceptable" subject to talk about, it didn't garner the political/public concern that was so needed at the time. Much needed Information was quietly swept under the rug or completely denied. It was not something to be talked about, except behind discretely held hands over mouths.

Even in the Gay Community, HIV/AIDS was a topic to be avoided. And, this was in spite of thousands of Guys wasting away before our very eyes! The main advice, being put out there, at the time, was not to butt fuck without a condom!

I have not counted how many guys I knew/were acquainted with, who died of AIDS, or how many were "rumored" to be "Positive". I was only "privy" to some who had been diagnosed, for sure, and that was only because I knew them very well. The cause of death, of many others, was presented as "shameful" gossip.

Today ... we know much more about, and can treat, this insidious virus. Yet, STILL, it is mainly thought of as a GAY disease! We've come a long way in understanding, yet, we still have a long way to go! It's now talked about more, but, those discrete hands are yet being held over our whispering mouths.

WOW! I don't know where you were living or how involved you were within the gay community, but as someone with very wide gay involvement in the 80s, no one I knew avoided talking about AIDS. We were living with it every day. Even my family and straight friends, who were pretty conservative and out of the loop, when it came to gay issues, were talking about it. Every newspaper, magazine and news outlet was publishing material about it. The only people I know who were avoiding the issue were in the Reagan administration.

There certainly were families who were in denial about family members with AIDS and who tried to hush it up, but there were many more who didn't, particularly by the late 80s.

 

[Yooper]

There certainly were families who were in denial about family members with AIDS and who tried to hush it up, but there were many more who didn't, particularly by the late 80s.

Unfortunately, out in the boondocks of the USA anyway, this statement is still true. A year or so ago it was revealed there were several hundred PWA's in the Upper Peninsula (the entire UP is about 200,000 folks, depending on who's counting). You should have seen the Letters to the Editor in the local paper...most of them quite shocked.

About 4 years ago someone I knew personally died up there, and the local newspaper refused to run the obituary. And everyone in town knew him, too. And everyone knew what he died of, too.

Discrimination is still alive and well in the good 'ol USA.

 

[treanir]

Croynan is correct. And The Band Played On should be one of the primary sources for your research./quote]

And indeed it is. *nods*
I have found it quite indispensible.

 

[gdude30]

I am glad this thread was made. I got sort of emotional after reading a lot of what is in "Gays and Lesbians in The Military" and how AIDS was first dealt with and how it FINALLY took some straight guy dying for the papers to go "AIDS IS REAL HETERO'S CAN GET IT TOO"

The sad thing is that so many were dying before that one famous actor died and it took ONE STRAIGHT actor for the world to go "Oh my god AIDS is real" and yet the hundreds who died who were gay diddn't seem to do anything.

I have heard experiences from older men about what AIDS was like when they were around. They told me for them it wasn't talked about much but friends and people would "LITERALLY" drop dead and the bodies would not immediately get taken because even doctors were afraid to touch it.

I also know that many of my friends have lost so many due to AIDS. I am sorry GL that the senior you had a crush on died of the disease.

And unfortunately. A great number of leathermen have been killed by the disease. Because of AIDS an entire generation has been lost. And because of that disease there aren't that many "masters" to speak about the leather lifestyle and the stupid "slaves are bitches and weak and should be treated like shit" is the stereotype right now and not only gives the community a bad name but makes people fear it and not understand it as well.

I don't mean to always inject leather into my posts but I just feel so strongly about it I suppose it can't be helped. I really do feel bad that there aren't more master's around to teach either young people or curious people about the lifestyle and to negate the stereotypes and make people more safe and aware. But it's because of this disease.

I actually did watch this movie forgot what it's called. About this boy who has AIDS and he is friends with another boy and they go on an adventure to cure it. I think some random guy attempts to kill them but once the boy with AIDS releases the blood he warns the guy to leave them alone or he will get the disease. To use AIDS as a weapon (for survival in that instant) shows great fear and power in this one disease.

It really does piss me off though when someone bleeds some stupid fuck goes "OMG BLOOD I'M GONNA CATCH AIDS". People actually did that at high school if someone got a nose bleed or a cut on their finger or something.

Anyways thank you guys for sharing your insight. I know my Sir has done some AIDS walks and protests before. I might do them someday. For now my goal is to learn more and on the way educate people and by doing so maybe that will make people stronger and not only help people care about AIDS, get tested, and fight to somehow find an answer for it, but also might strengthen the gay community as well.

AIDS is one of the most mysterious diseases out there. And I don't believe we will find a cure for it. By saying this I don't mean to slap every person who has ever done an AIDS walk or every person who has the disease and has hope and lives on the hope. I say that because I think an "answer" is what we should be looking for. Because an answer might be better than a cure. Also there always seems to be a way around things.

I also have to say that I really respect those who have grew up during the AIDS period and either watched their friends and loved ones die or knew of those who died. It must take a lot of strength to overcome something like that and not let it consume you and change your personality and give you a negative outlook view on life.

And "Gays And Lesbians in The Military" is by Randy Shilts. I plan on reading that book "And The Band Marched On" as well.

 

[kallipolis]

I

I also have to say that I really respect those who have grew up during the AIDS period and either watched their friends and loved ones die or knew of those who died. It must take a lot of strength to overcome something like that and not let it consume you and change your personality and give you a negative outlook view on life.

A noteworthy remark that reminds all of us not to let any crisis in our life, deny us our birth right to live in freedom from fear.

Thanks for your perspective, gdude - I enjoyed the read.

 

[Yooper]

I reread the OP and will try to do a better job summarizing my opinion. This is from the point of view of someone that turned 20 in 1983 which might vary from the overall 'community' view.

For me, it was not talked about much, except from what I saw on the 'mainstream' media, the 'Gay Flu', 'Gay Cancer', and GRID. The people I knew that were my age did not have access to the larger discussion then going on in the community because the 'community' generally excluded anyone under 21. There were no GLBT 'Centers' back then; the bars were pretty much the only 'community' at that point. Information for people my age was pretty much non existent.

I was attending University at the time and for those of us who self-identified as Gay had a really tough time. The mainstream media had us believing if anyone had Gay Sex we'd all catch 'Gay Cancer' and die. It affected our grades. It didn't help that the Counseling Center on campus (free to all students) publicly supported this view and encouraged abstinence only. Or to go straight. Two of my friends committed suicide fall semester 1982 because of the crappy information we had.

There was one bar in Denver that served 3.2% beer and thusly allowed the 18-21 set to drink. I remember specifically one incident a friend (same age as myself) went there and hooked up with an older guy. The next week he quit going to classes. I looked him up and he hadn't gotten out of bed for several days. He told me what had happened, just a brief hook up, and insisted he was going to get the Gay Cancer. He wouldn't let me even give him a hug, and by the end of the week he'd hanged himself. The incident never made the campus newspaper.

By the time I turned 21 and was legally allowed to mingle with older people, they discussion had reached fever pitch and there was huge disappointment in the 'mainstream' media and the amounts of misinformation that was given out. I for one was scared shitless and didn't go out much, if at all.

The world changed when Rock Hudson and Liberace died. I might have my events in the wrong order, but then when Ryan White got the National media coverage (a non Gay kid dies of AIDS!) the media finally got around to saying it was EVERYBODY's problem. Another event that changed many minds, and made folks of my age breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't 'just' a Gay problem that a peer of ours Princess Diana took on the anti-AIDS lobby and actually touched folks with the disease. Hurray! We're not lepers!

I consider myself extremely lucky I remain negative, and partnered for the last 22 years. I cannot find anywhere any of my friends from 1981-1987 (87 was when I moved out of Denver and ended up in the boondocks), and when I do a search for any of them they are all dead.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Wow... I didn't expect so many responses.



I got that from, well, supervisor one. He convinced me that was the truth, 'cause he was a Fire Island regular in the 80s and thus knew best. Larry Kramer seemed to confirm it, though I am well-aware he's not the most reliable figure in this.
Silly me for trusting my supervisor.

Yup, As Is is one of my plays. I would love to see it performed one day.
(my other plays are The Normal Heart and Angels in America, which I am going to see in December - yay!)

I'm not saying you shouldn't trust your supervisor, but please also do a little independent research. Just check the archives for any publication during the period in question, and you'll see that AIDS was a huge topic in the American media.

Perhaps you have access to The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature in some library there? That's the standard reference for American magazines.

 

[BabiGayPimp]

AIDS was a hotly discussed topic in the 80s among gays, although there was a lot of misinformation bandied about.