Thousands of people march to the White House; ashes of their loved ones grasped in their hands. Fighting off police resistance, they spread the cremated remains of those lost to AIDS on the lawn like a light dusting of snow. The year was 1992 (Domonske). Since the crisis had begun in the 80s, the death toll had risen without mercy. And yet, it was still a topic commonly avoided in American politics.
Medical research went unfunded and discrimination went unchecked as it became more and more obvious who was being affected by the disease. The magnitude of the AIDS Crisis was a result of government ignorance and intolerance demonstrated through obvious homophobia and a system of racial injustice. The United States government’s system of discrimination during the AIDS Crisis left minority groups to suffer from a disease that disproportionately impacted them.
It was no secret that gay men were the most likely people to contract HIV. In fact, “Gay and bisexual men made up an estimated 2% of the U.S. population in 2013 but 55% of all people living with AIDS in the United States” (Human Rights Campaign). These numbers are a direct result of both the poor sexual education provided for the LGBTQ+ community and sexuality-based discrimination that created the unsafe environments known for fueling the transmission of AIDS (unemployment, homelessness, loss of healthcare, reckless sex work, etc.).
127 our experts are availableright now
Queer-inclusive sex education in public schools and LGBTQ+ discrimination laws would both be controlled by the government, so a lack of such things is the direct fault of those in charge. The reasoning behind the inadequate action on the AIDS crisis being, of course, directly rooted in homophobia. The White House administration was known to respond to inquiries about the AIDS epidemic with humor, homophobia, and an overwhelming sense of disinterest on the matter. When the President at the time, Ronald Reagan, eventually did address the topic in 1987, he did little to actually help those with AIDS.
One source says, “Though Reagan ultimately labeled AIDS as ‘public health enemy no.1,’ he also suggested that its spread might be slowed by ethical behavior- i.e. abstinence. ‘After all, when it comes to preventing AIDS, don’t medicine and morality teach the same lessons?’ he said, according to the New York Times” (Gibson). Instead of putting effort into attempting to solve an issue that had so far taken the lives approximately 23,000 people, Reagan opted to put the blame on the victims of the disease.
In fact, the notion that in order to be safe you must cease all sexual activity is incredibly problematic. Not only does it offer an unreal solution to a very real problem, but based off the fact that the administration clearly understood who was most being affected by the disease, it also suggests extreme homophobia. To say that gay people should not have sex (instead of providing methods and educational systems for safe sex) is to erase what is generally considered an important factor of sexuality and from there, attempt to erase queer identities. From here, another side to this narrative can be looked at- one from the racial minority.
Race was a commonly overlooked factor towards the beginning of the AIDS outbreak because of discrimination and segregation towards people of color. However, as more statistical data regarding the effects of the AIDS crisis on African Americans is taken, quite a lot can be seen. For example, the data from one study shows that from 1993 to 1995, people with AIDS were 42.4% White and 38% Black.
Then, in the following years of 1996 to 2000, results showed 34% of those with AIDS to be White and 44.9% to be Black (CDC). This pattern then continues on until the present with a majority of those with AIDS being African American, typically men who participate in male-to-male sexual contact. Because this distinction occurs now, it is not precisely clear why it is not apparent before. It may have been because racial statistics were simply not accurate or because as time went on, more funding was put into AIDS prevention and treatments advanced significantly for those with more privilege.
How racism factors into the AIDS discussion is nowhere near as glaringly obvious as homophobia, but it illuminates a much larger-scale issue within the American government. Institutional racism is a social and political system that puts non-white people in an overall lower place in the country and provides them with countless issues regarding their race.
This form of racial injustice is important in regards to the AIDS crisis because it is the reason why Black people, as well as other people of color, are disproportionately affected by AIDS. Such things as dominantly Black neighborhoods are a part of systematic racism because they face issues from the government like underfunding in schools and other public areas of life that may affect education (like that of sexual education, which is known to help in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS).
A poor educational system also creates a chain reaction of joblessness, poverty, homelessness, and the creation of the dangerous environments in which AIDS is commonly transmitted (just as seen in the queer communities). Factors such as workplace or medical discrimination based on race also are also a part of the a racist government system that was unwilling to provide assistance to those in the most need during the time of the AIDS epidemic. However, there are different arguments that can be made regarding the government’s influence on AIDS.
Although the Reagan Administration did virtually nothing to stop the spread of the disease or help those who had it, and the following presidency of George H.W. Bush is generally not regarded in much better terms, it would not be true to say that no legislation was passed regarding the crisis. It is known that Bush signed both the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect people with AIDS against discrimination and the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act to fund AIDS treatment (Domonske).
While these legislative measures were certainly a step in the right direction, they were often seen as ‘too little too late’ by AIDS activists and they did little to erase the other harmful things done by Bush regarding the issue AIDS. For example, “Among other things, his administration was famously reluctant to change a policy that blocked people with HIV from entering the United States — a major challenge for an international AIDS conference planned within the U.S.” (Domonske).
People continued to die from the disease at alarming rates and Bush’s, like Reagan’s, lack of urgency on the issue was extremely problematic and even deadly. Blocking people with HIV was not only extremely discriminatory against them, but also halted progress that could have been made towards bettering the future of those with or at risk of getting AIDS. The sentiment of those legislations was nice, but meant close to nothing when taking into consideration that the administration was still guilty of perpetuating harmful ideas about people with the disease and did little to actively try and stop discrimination, which they themselves were a part of.
In conclusion, the AIDS epidemic was a result of direct homophobia by government officials and an integrated system of racism in the U.S. Throughout the administrations in power over the course of the AIDS crisis, the disease was continually and consistently ignored as the trauma of those who had to endure it was belittled. This was allowed because of the American government’s indifference towards the lives of underprivileged and underrepresented minority groups.
The peak of the AIDS crisis may have been many years ago, but many people still suffer from the disease, particularly gay and bisexual men of color. Furthermore, the institutions in place that allowed the AIDS crisis to play out as it did are still very much factors of the everyday lives of minority groups. It is time to put an end to the idea that all of America is centered around- that the white, the straight, the rich, and the privileged matter more than everybody else. Because they don’t.
