What was gay rights like in the "early days"?

[BostonPirate]

Rock Hudson

construct you remeber the shock of the nation?

and shit he went fast.

 

[Kulindahr]

^
^
I have to admit I was "on the outside looking in" at that point, still unaware of my real self.

At the same time, I was growing disgusted and horrified at the moronic theme from so many supposed 'evangelicals' that this was a plague sent by God -- first, because all that ended at the Cross, and second, if that's what it was, He had pretty sloppy aim (the first AIDS case anyone in my family knew in person was a female nurse). And I got so tired of seeing the "anally injected death syndrome" garbage on restroom stall walls that I got myself a small can of spray paint of common bland institutional beige and regularly sprayed them out.

And when the pastor at the Foursquare church I attended quite a while in college chastised a member for saying derogatory things about gays, and then when preaching on "The Good Samaritan" admonished that real Christians would be going to the bedsides and being family to AIDS victims whose families had abandoned them, I let myself seriously examine the possibility that what was happening to the 'evangelical' churches was what Jesus had warned against: love growing cold.


Somehow, that brings to mind something I'd long forgotten about: while in Miami, in the early 80s, I once went to check out a gay club -- and fled in horror, then found myself longing to go back.

 

[construct]

Rock Hudson

construct you remeber the shock of the nation?

and shit he went fast.

Yes, and you remember that Ronald Reagan never even spoke the word 'AIDS' in public until after Hudson's death and the absolute RAGE that many gay men felt at the mere mention of Reagan's name because of it.

And you remember Larry Kramer's "1,112 and Counting"? A 50-page screed published in 1983 excoriating (among a lot of other things) the New York Times for its lack of coverage, contrasting it with the hysteria about legionaire's disease, which claimed the lives of only about a dozen people. It began, "If this article doesn't scare the shit out of you, we're in real trouble. If this article doesn't rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth. Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get."

Of course you remember all that. You were right in the middle of it.

 

[scream4ever]

^^^And then Reagan made Ryan White his little poster child to pretend he did shit for the issue (he didn't even sign the Ryan White Care Act, George Bush senior did). Thank God Michael Jackson pushed the issue. I'll say it again and again; Ronald Reagan was the most overrated President of all time, and not just for this issue.

 

[BostonPirate]

Yes, and you remember that Ronald Reagan never even spoke the word 'AIDS' in public until after Hudson's death and the absolute RAGE that many gay men felt at the mere mention of Reagan's name because of it.

And you remember Larry Kramer's "1,112 and Counting"? A 50-page screed published in 1983 excoriating (among a lot of other things) the New York Times for its lack of coverage, contrasting it with the hysteria about legionaire's disease, which claimed the lives of only about a dozen people. It began, "If this article doesn't scare the shit out of you, we're in real trouble. If this article doesn't rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth. Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get."

Of course you remember all that. You were right in the middle of it.

Reagan's refusal to say AIDS was what propelled act-up to act up.

No one even knows about the quilt anymore. I hear its been dismantled and sent to museums around the nation.

 

[scream4ever]

Reagan's refusal to say AIDS was what propelled act-up to act up.

No one even knows about the quilt anymore. I hear its been dismantled and sent to museums around the nation.

Say what? They had a chunk of it at my college a few years ago!

 

[BostonPirate]

Say what? They had a chunk of it at my college a few years ago!

so they are taking it out and on tour now?

cool

I sewed nine panels in that thing, and worked on a few more with friends.

 

[scream4ever]

so they are taking it out and on tour now?

cool

I sewed nine panels in that thing, and worked on a few more with friends.

Yah everyone thought it was really cool. The saddest one had to be where a guy sewed "If you are reading this it means I have died".

Just to give everyone an idea on how much views on AIDS have shifted since the 1980's let me say this; I was born in 1987. I didn't find out about AIDS until I was about 12. It wasn't until I was about 18 when I even knew there was a stigma attached to it.

 

[lolalola70]

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/local-things-to-do/bosqu-boston-marriott-quincy/

that is best if you want to see the city, and the cape. It is built just where the two highways split to each. It is also about a ten minute drive up 93 to the Library.

You could also go into Quincy and see John Adams Home that he lived in before he was president... all through the revolution actually. Its a national park, even though its stuck in a sea of urban development. You can also take a ferry from there to P Town and the islands.

Thanks for the info!

 

[chrisrobin]

If anyone is really interested in the "early days" watch (or read) Angels in America. It's about the emergence of AIDS, but it is also really political. Playwright Tony Kushner had the Republican "plan" pegged 30 years ago. You will see great American hero Roy Cohn (played by Al Pacino) conversing with Ethel Rosenberg (Meryl Streep), among other things. The play's a bit long and metaphorical, but definitely worth your while.