3 ms·
I regret to report that in the 1980's USA, homophobic speech and actions were 100% politically tenable. Reagan didn't mention AIDS publicly until 1987, and the
by gamache 4y ago
I regret to report that in the 1980's USA, homophobic speech and actions were 100% politically tenable.
Reagan didn't mention AIDS publicly until 1987, and the reason for that was definitely not that he wanted to avoid being seen as homophobic.
- tekla 4y agoI regret to inform you that it doesn't address the point. The saunas and baths where gay people convened were mostly in the big cities, the places where the AIDS epidemic were most concentrated due to basic population density. The very places where the message that "you should probably use condoms and have fewer partners due to this new disease that we don't understand yet but are pretty sure is sexually transmitted" was a political death sentence in the cities where the message actually mattered. This doesn't excuse Reagans response or the general homophobic attitude, but lets try to be more historically accurate. There are reasons why Fauci, who used to be hated by the gay community for above reasons, is now considered one of the good guys fighting for the gay community.