I am a gay man of a certain age

[Tiger8]

27. Republicans laughed at AIDS deaths

In the 80's, Rush Limbaugh would read from the names of gay men who died of AIDS, and after each name, played a laugh track and/or applause.

Limbaugh also mocked the red ribbons people wore who lost a loved one to AIDS....and he mocked the AIDS quilt, to the absolute joy of people calling into his show.

But other Republicans took AIDS seriously, which was actually worse. William F. Buckley advocated tattooing all gay men on the buttocks, while others favored building camps to quarantine gay men, and spread stories that gay men would "lash out" and deliberately infect others by biting them, spiting, and licking produce in grocery stores.

Republican politicians acted as if AIDS didn't exist, or if pushed, opposed doing anything about it. A reporter asked Reagan administration officials how they planned to address the AIDS crisis, and the spokesman joked about it, asking the reporter of he was a homosexual, and turning to his associates and asking, "Are any of you homosexuals?" to their nervous laughter.

Fundamentalist Christian preachers and televangelists were eager to proclaim AIDS as God's judgement on sexual sin - and compared it to Sodom and Gomorrah. Televangelist Pat Robertson claimed that gay men wore a "secret ring" with a spike in it, and used it to infect others with HIV when shaking hands or touching them.

But perhaps the worst offender was the Catholic Church. Numerous Popes spoke out strongly against condoms, and opposed safe sex education with a vengeance - even going to Africa and commanding people to not use condoms - which lead to the deaths of millions of Africans.


Regardless, they were all adamantly opposed to spending any money or doing anything to help or educate people on how to keep themselves safe from HIV infections - because it would be interfering with God. While others on the right saw AIDS as the perfect bogeyman to get people to donate money, or make them view gay people as a menace to society.

Finally - the tide started to change when gays started fighting back. Preachers and politicians were shouted down with chants of "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME" and ACT-UP was formed and would bust into church services, splattering buckets of red paint on the finely decorated walls. Hollywood got involved....movies such as "An Early Frost" and "Philadelphia" humanized the terror that was AIDS.

This change gave Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) the impetus he needed to be the lead sponsor on "The Ryan White Act" which had 66 co-sponsors - enough to bypass a promised filibuster attempt by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC).

You can read about The Ryan White Act here.
https://hab.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/legislation