Millions of people were infected with AIDS around the world but politicians in the United States thought that the solution to the AIDS epidemic was to stop humans from engaging in sexual activities.
Similar to how abstinence-only sex education does not work to prevent unwanted pregnancies in adolescents, preaching and condemning homosexuals will not force them to accept celibacy as a way of life. They made it seem like gay people were asking for AIDS. They blamed the victims. Once Peter Staley’s sexuality was confirmed to be homosexual during a TV broadcast, Pat Buchanan seemed to attack Staley and homosexuals, saying that engaging in homosexual sexual activities is like playing Russian Roulette even though using a condom would greatly reduce the chance of anyone contracting HIV/AIDS. The disapproval of the use of condoms by the Catholic Church in the midst of an epidemic of a fatal sexually transmitted disease was completely counteractive to saving people’s lives. Since it was many gay people that contracted AIDS, there was a lack of support for the victims until they organized. Even through the organized efforts to save human beings’ lives, there was still a stigma against homosexuals. Staley’s mentor even believed that people with AIDS should be left to die because of their sexual orientation. At peaceful demonstrations gay protesters were called derogatory terms because of their sexual orientations. I do not understand how some people could not put aside their differences to fight a disease that was killing millions of people worldwide.
Act Up, Tag, and other activists did a great job in organizing the community to make the drug trials and testing more effective and efficient so that many other diseased individuals do not have to wait until they are dead for a treatment to be approved. Act Up’s efforts against the government and private institutions are an example of a way to counteract or stop the negative effects of top-down city planning. If enough passionate people can organize to push for an approved AIDS treatment then certainly enough passionate people can organize to help fix the housing crisis in New York City.
Discussion Questions: Can we again organize to fight against displacement and other adverse effects of city planning? What would it take? How would such a fight be different from that of the AIDS epidemic?
