AIDS crisis of the 1980s

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and its precursor, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), became international news in the 1980s with a specific westernised focus. When medical professionals first discovered the disease, the original name was Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), which reflects the general attitudes of the times. After the gay rights liberation created nationwide coverage in the 1970s, larger urban cities started to become more gay-friendly. Yet when HIV emerged in the United States in 1980, those gay clubs, bars, and safe-spaces became lethal to those who found sexual satisfaction in far less morally-restrictive areas.

The above picture highlights the conservatism of 1980s America - a place where the AIDS crisis was not mentioned by governmental forces until 1985 and right-wing politicians felt justified to ignore the deaths of a large number of people from a minority group. The 1980s was also a time when research on the medical implications was not funded, and hysteria around a policed group of people was heightened more than ever. While the stigma surrounding LGBT communities is greatly declining in significance today, the 1980s proved to be a far different story.