The American LGBTQ Rights Movement An Introduction Chapter 6 THE AIDS ERA

TH AIDS ADS AND OK , AC PERS you In a weeks I now ever could . And now I was left to , too , was I moved to Los Angeles in early 1985 from Wisconsin years into the epidemic I did not know a person with HIV . Soon , I was thrust into the world of hearing terms on a daily basis , from friends and patients alike , such as I ve been diagnosed , or He got the pneumonia , and seeing purplish sarcoma lesions everywhere I went in Los Angeles .

I remember specifically when my sister called to tell me about that Enrique , someone I had dated while living in Wisconsin , had died from complications . It was October of 1985 . She said They wouldn enter his room with the food them outside even when he couldn walk . One day a candy striper was about to go Enrique was waving a dollar bill at her through the glass window he wanted a candy bar . Well , a nurse ran over to the striper , whispered something , and moments later the girl pushed her cart quickly down the hall .

Enrique never got to tell his mother he was knows if he even knew he was dying ?

my sister went on . He phoned his mother to say that he had a bad flu and was going in to the hospital to rest for a few days . He had even promised to come to San Juan to see her for I remembered that last phone call Enrique and I had exchanged the previous December , just before I had moved . He had asked me if I thought all the diarrhea and weight loss he was experiencing could be due to that new awful AIDS I ve been hearing about .

Come on , Enrique . I sure it pass . You re fine , just a bug or something . I call you in a few weeks after I I never did . And now I never could . And now I was left to wonder if I , too , was infected . Mark DEFINITION OF TERMS Although the term ( lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender , and queer ) has been used throughout the text , it is not a term people used in the . Queer remained a derogatory term , although the term had started to be reclaimed by the community by the end of the decade . The rise of or acronyms at the end of this era signaled bisexuals as an increasing part of the gay and lesbian coalition . Transgender activism was not prominent in the and transgender people still struggled for acceptance within the gay , an , and bisexual communities . Transgender activism would not emerge as a force and enter into broader coalition until later in the .

77 THE FIRST CASES OF WHAT would later be termed Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( AIDS ) were reported in 1981 when young men in three AIDS major United States cities were hospitalized with cases of extremely rare , deadly opportunistic infections . Within years , AIDS would become the leading cause of death for Americans aged . Now it is known that the human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) the virus that causes AIDS , is a , sexually transmitted disease that can not be acquired via casual contact . But in the early , all anyone knew was that this new illness was fatal . The ambiguity was a recipe for panic and blame . Because the first reported cases of disease were among gay men , public opinion pigeonholed the burgeoning epidemic as a gay The stigma of homosexuality remained strong in the , a decade which began with no federal or statewide laws in place to protect the civil rights of people . This prejudice seemed to be a primary cause of the relative inaction of the federal government to address the epidemic . From June 1981 to June 1982 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( spent million on AIDS , which by October 1982 , had stricken 634 Americans and killed 260 . Across the same time frame , the spent million on LARRY Ill A NOVELIST AND ACADEMY writer , Larry Kramer saw early on that AIDS would devastate the gay male population . He one of the first organizations to confront the epidemic , Gay Men Health Crisis , and five years later helped form the more combative collective , AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ( ACT UP ) Kramer realized that protesting against drug companies had to be made visually interesting in order to garner the media coverage ACT UP sought as leverage for policy change . ACT UP theatrical protests and arresting graphics ed the gay community a voice in determining how to treat a disease which overwhelmingly affected themselves . Kramer went on to write a Broadway play about the early days of , The Normal Heart .

By 1985 , media rhetoric concerning those with AIDS highlighted the innocent victims of the disease , meaning babies born ill or infected via blood transfusion . The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( formed partly to combat the widespread notion that gay men with HIV were , conversely , somehow to blame for their own deaths . They compiled instances of homophobic statements and depictions in media portrayals , news reports , and political rhetoric . Readers of newsletter were given addresses of producers , publishers , and politicians responsible for bigoted language or portrayals , and were encouraged to make their voice heard . This picture shows a protest at a movie studio in Los Angeles . fin , disease , which had caused fewer than 50 deaths . Even more troubling , because ofthe long period , it was estimated that a quarter of a million Americans were infected by the time of the first deaths . Some gay men reacted to the sudden ap in the community with . Scant public health warnings and virtually absent media attention gave rise to theories that the new disease didn actually exist or couldnt be spread by sexual contact . The early inability to the cause ofthe disease con to the confusion . Doctors and activists who spoke ofa coming cataclysm were distrust ed and dismissed for exaggerating the threat . Many gay men felt that authorities were trying to put them back in the closet and reverse the battles for acceptance and visibility . This perception was heightened by ho rhetoric from religious and govern ment leaders in the early years of the epidemic . Future White House Communications tor Pat Buchanan wrote The poor als they have declared war upon nature , and now nature is extracting an awful Moral Majority leader Reverend Jerry said AIDS is not just God punishment for

( la , 79 I ' Estimated Incidence of AIDS and Deaths of Adults mem for the that mist . AIDS , January 1985 June 2000 , United A AiDS 993 definition ates 7718 New York A implementation Deaths Time published Conservative leader William Buckle ) call for people with AIDS to be tattooed for purposes . in a , vi Public opinion tended to blame those with AIDS for the 155355 lac fen for delays Of Death infected through blood were forced to leave school . The graph shows the precipitous increase in A backlash of fear at deaths in the United States in the first fifteen years of the crisis . Subsequent improvements in medication and treatments have increasingly those infected with HIV to stave off the onset one of the first public figures to and death . ter movie star Rock Hudson , his diagnosis , died from by the ican Civil Liberties Union , where as part of the National Prisons , she worked for the rights of prisoners who were . In 1986 , she joined the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force ( and served for three years as the public information director . in 1989 , she became executive director , the first person of color to head a mainstream national civil rights organization . She ly retired to write the award winning Virtual Equality The ing of Gay and Lesbian Liberation , before returning to the as their public information director . As of 2013 , served as the Deputy Director of the Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Peace and Social Justice Program ofthe Ford Foundation .

80 in complications in 1985 . Life magazine screamed on its cover , Now no one is safe from Violence against gay men rose precipitously . In 1986 , political activist Lyndon crafted California Proposition 64 , which would give the state the power to quarantine those with HIV . The initiative collected near signatures , twice the number needed to put the measure on the ballot . activists feared that if they lost , similar initiatives would spread across the United States . Through increasingly sophisticated political organizing , fundraising , and grassroots operations , activists were able to deliver an overwhelming defeat of the measure at the polls . Scientists at the and other institutions in the United States and France eventually determined that the retrovirus HIV caused a breakdown of the immune system . A test for the virus became available in 1985 . With confirmation that the disease could be spread by sex , the gay hardest hit , but by no means the only population at to meet the crisis Groups such as Gay Men Health Crisis , Project Inform , AIDS Project Los Angeles , and the ican Foundation for AIDS Research , formed to the void of effective public health policy by raising money for research and education , and to support those with the disease . However , the mounting zo decided to pursue her political interests . She A A argued for a gay rights plank in the 1976 National Committee platform and joined the Women Caucus of the National Gay Task Force ( In 1982 , she became Executive Director of and directed the organization to push for a federal response to AIDS . In 1985 , she joined New York Governor Mario administration , where she worked on the Consumer Protection Board to challenge pharmaceutical companies over pricing drugs and to change discriminatory policies in the insurance industry . Once arrested outside the White House as a tester against the Reagan administration lack of response to AIDS , she became the openly person in the ton Administration where she secured disability benefits for those with the disease . For a long time gays objective was to get off our backs . With the advent of AIDS it became very clear that there were some problems the government had to be involved in .

fin , The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ( ACT UP ) formed in New York City in 1987 under the motto United in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS Symbolized by a pink triangle and the slogan , the group operated through a radical democratic style . They became known for their disruptive protests , theatrical street demonstrations , and willingness to be arrested for their cause . At their height , they boasted thousands of members in chapters across the United States and spawned such groups as the artists collective Gran Fury , the militant Queer Nation , and the Treatment Action Group ( TAG ) TAG medical expertise worked alongside ACT UP activism to reform the drug trial policies and speed the development of new drugs in the Food and Drug Administration . Their work changed the way this and future epidemics were to be handled by governmental and corporate entities . By 1996 , advances in antiviral therapies allowed to be largely managed and transformed it from the death sentence that it had been for the previous fifteen years . 81

82 The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence , a social club of activists , used extreme parody and theatricality to confront prejudice and homophobia . They made a splashy debut in the late at San Francisco events , wearing nun , outrageous costumes , and face paint . They rechristened themselves with names like Sister Florence , Hyde , and Flora . Their early work included one of the first fundraisers and pamphlets . Aligning artistry with activism , education , and community service , the with chapters across the their global mission to promulgate universal joy and stigmatic fin , death toll and sheer scale of the epidemic over the meager resources of grassroots organizations . The federal government needed to become involved . Coming out in support of increased funding for AIDS research meant personal visibility and vulnerability in a society in which one could be legally or evicted for being . But a death ation in the gay community drove increasing numbers to take the risk . Isolated acts of protest in 1985 and 1986 , and increasingly combative reports in gay pub , indicated the mounting anger in the gay community . In early 1987 , the Center for Disease Control convened a conference about the question of routine AIDS testing of certain populations . A protest group calling itself the Lavender Hill Mob stormed the proceedings and shouted down the speakers , pleading for the community to test drugs , not The Mob dressed distinctively they wore the pink triangle insignia forced upon gay men in Nazi concentration camps . Silence Death collective spread posters throughout New York City to foment expanded gay activism . The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ( ACT UP ) formed in 1987 and quickly became the face of the new activism . A primary target of the group was the availability of medications . Drugs as promising for AIDS treatment had not been for testing by the Food and Drug Admin ( FDA ) The sole drug available was a failed cancer drug that cost thousands of dollars a year ,

33 and clinical trial protocols denied patients potential alternatives . Using civil disobedience , tactics , and media visibility , ACT UP put pressure on the FDA to expedite their work . The federal government response was slow . By 1987 , when President Reagan gave his first policy speech about AIDS , nearly forty thousand Americans had been diagnosed with the disease and over twenty thousand had died . That same year , Congress adopted an amendment banning funds for any AIDS education materials that promote or encourage , directly or indirectly , homosexual This effectively outlawed any education efforts which mentioned homosexual acts that could spread the virus . At the same time , other nations such as the United Kingdom , and Thailand undertook massive educational programs that served as models of HIV prevention . Reagan Commission on AIDS eventually released a report urging the protection of those with HIV against discrimination , an expansion of funding and services to AIDS , and money for education . These recommendations were allowed to languish . Congress responded in 1988 by approving legislation that would define a comprehensive federal program to fight and treat AIDS . In 1990 , the death of a teenager with hemophilia prompted the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency ( CARE ) Act , which funded care and treatment services . The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was the first federal law to offer some protection against crimination for those with HIV . MARLON AN AND documentarian , Marlon Riggs , created films that confronted issues of racism and . His 1989 documentary , Tongues Untied , examined black gay male sexuality , particularly the differences between conceptions of macho and sissy within the black community . Other films include the 1987 documentary Ethnic Notions on racial stereotyping ment Blacks in Prime Time ( 1991 ) about the stereotypical portrayal of black people on television No Regrets ( 1993 ) about five black men addressing the stigma of and homosexuality in the black community and Black ( released posthumous ly in 1995 ) regarding the diversity of black identities .

84 ROB BENEFITS AND FAMILY , OFTEN DISCUSSED SOLELY IN terms of gay men , AIDS had an impact on lesbians as well . Previously , lesbian and gay people had existed more as entities than as one community . The epidemic brought the two together as lesbians cared and fought for ailing gay men . The patients to hospitals made acute many of the iniquities faced by couples . Because relationships were not legally recognized , hospitals could deny a gay man visitation rights , or say over the health needs of his dying of AIDS . Upon the death of a partner , the surviving person was also denied the rights and ed married couples . In 1986 , a New York City gay man , Miguel , was threatened eviction when his partner died complications . The case was ultimately decided in favor of . It was the first United States court decision to give any legal protection to couples . In 1982 , The Village Voice newspaper in New York became the corporate entity to vide health and other to unmarried partners of employees , and in 1984 , the city of Berkeley was the to offer domestic partnership for public employees . However , these small steps ROBERTA GREW UP IN Los Angeles and attended law school in San Francisco . In 1989 , she was elected to that Board of Supervisors . Three years later , after she spoke at the 1992 National Democratic Convention , President Clinton chose her to be the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity . After a bruising United States Senate confirmation battle , she became the first openly presidential appointee . Since completing her work for the federal government , she has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of California State University . In 2011 , President Obama named her to the United States Commission on Civil Rights .

fin , underscored the vulnerability of the Vast of committed gay and lesbian couples in this era . couples continued to be denied , deported over the wishes oftheir same sex partner , and dren removed from the homes and bian parents laws , which were upheld by the 1986 United States Supreme Court decision Bowery . to make presumptive criminals of gay and lesbian people and to make an argument against providing them and rights . MARCH ON WASHINGTON BY 1987 , THE was angry . The . Supreme Court decision had upheld utes private sexual relations between same sex partners , and the Reagan Administrations newly formed Commission on AIDS was in serious disarray ( its chair and resigned within months ) In , a steering committee recruited from organizations nationwide proposed a March on Washington to articulate such as the legal recognition of lesbian and In 1979 , Sharon and Karen Thompson ( pictured above ) fell in love and bought a house together . Because there was no legal way for the couple to marry , they named one another as policy to indicate their mutual commitment . Four years later , was hit by a drunk driver and rendered incapacitated , father , who refused to acknowledge the relationship between his daughter and her partner , was given guardianship rights . Thompson was prevented from caring for her , and even from seeing her , for several years . It took nearly a decade plus a court appeal before Thompson was declared legal guardian .

86 gay relationships , the repeal of all laws sodomy , an end to discrimination , and massive increases in funding for AIDS education , research , and patient care . On October 11 , 1987 , the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights drew roughly a ple and their allies , including civil rights leader Cesar Chavez , President of the National Organization for Women Eleanor , and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson . The day before the march , Reverend Troy Perry , founder of the Metropolitan Community Church , performed a mass commitment ceremony for thousands of couples . At dawn on the day of the march , the NAMES Project Foundation AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled for the first time . Two days after the march , several hundred demonstrators were arrested outside the Supreme Court while protesting the . decision . The march had a profound impact on the hundreds of thousands that attended and helped grassroots organizing across the country . Major national entities that emerged from the march included USA and the National Gay and Lesbian Organization . Robert and Jean Leary founded National Coming Out Day in 1988 , which is held every year on October 11 , the anniversary of the march . However , because media outlets largely did not cover events or activism , most of the country never heard about one of the largest civil rights marches in United States history or the deeply moving memorial quilt . LOU SULLIVAN BORN SHEILA JEAN SULLIVAN , Lou Sullivan joined the Gay ple Union ( at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and soon began writing for the paper on transgender issues . He sought sex reassignment surgery at Stanford University gender phoria program , but was rejected due to the restrictive policies of the era in treating individuals . Privatization of the industry and a subsequent loosening of restrictions allowed him to successfully transition in 1980 and begin living as a man . While working at the Janis Information Facility , a transgender referral and information center , he wrote Information for the Cross Dresser and Transsexual , which became standard reading for the ( transgender community . In 1986 , he started the first support group and newsletter . As of 2014 , International is the and largest organization in the world .

fin , In the , activist Cleve Jones and fellow demonstrators plastered a wall with placards showing names of San Franciscans who had died of AIDS . To Jones , the effect resembled a quilt . Within two years , he and others had formed the NAMES Project Foundation . The object was to express private grief through traditional craft in a publicly displayed and mobile memorial . The panels allowed individuals , families , and organizations to commemorate a partner , friend , or whose life was cut short by AIDS . Shown for the first time in 1987 at the Second National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights , it contained over nineteen hundred panels . The names commemorated in the panels were read in a ceremony that lasted hours . After the march , it was taken on a tour , during which more panels were added , tripling its size . As of 2020 , the quilt includes over panels commemorating over people who died from causes . The project was the subject of the Academy 1989 documentary Common Threads Stories from the Quilt .

88 IN THE 19805 , BISEXUAL formed their own groups to more closely align with feminist principles . Founded in 1983 , the BISEXUAL Boston Bisexual Network was one of the earliest of these groups . Also in the 19805 , the East Coast Bisexual Network , Bay Area Bisexual Network , and New York Area Bisexual well as political organizations such as San , and New York City demonstrating a broader coalition and reach In conjunction with the 1984 Democratic Convention , organized the first rally for bisexual rights . In 1990 , the North American Bisexual Network ( later called ) formed as the first national organization , and in 1990 , organized the first National Bisexual Conference in San cisco . The second national conference came about in conjunction with the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian , Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation the first national march to include bisexuals in the title . Bisexual visibility , and integration in the , continued to grow in the years to follow . Connecticut State Representative Evelyn Mantilla came out in 1997 to become the openly bisexual elected politician . In 1999 , Celebrate Bisexuality Day launched and became an annual celebration on September 23 to celebrate bisexual identity .

89 Gilbert Baker is credited for designing the first gay pride flag The original had eight stripes of color and first flew at San cisco pride parade in 1978 The bisexual flag is credited to a team led by Michael Page It was influenced by the symbol and was first flown at the in 1998 . Many flags have been raised to represent the transgender community , but this one by Monica Helms , first flown at the 2000 Phoenix pride parade , is probably the most common .