6.9: The HIV/AIDS Pandemic

Exploring the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

In the early 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic marked a devastating turning point for queer communities. In its early years, the disease was wrongly portrayed by the public and many media outlets as affecting only gay men, a misconception that intensified stigma and contributed to the harmful label of a “gay cancer”. Since emerging in the late twentieth century, HIV/AIDS has claimed more than 36 million lives worldwide. The HIV/AIDS crisis also reshaped LGBTQ+ family life, as partners, friends, and chosen family members often became primary caregivers when biological families, hospitals, or the state failed to provide adequate support.

In the United States, the crisis first came to official attention on June 5, 1981, when five gay men were hospitalized with rare infections and severely compromised immune systems. Despite the growing scale of the disease, President Ronald Reagan did not publicly acknowledge HIV/AIDS as a national health priority until September 17, 1985. During this period, thousands of people were dying while desperately searching for ways to save themselves and their loved ones. In the face of limited government action and widespread public indifference, queer communities and their allies stepped in to care for those who were sick. This struggle is poignantly depicted in the 2023 film Fairyland, based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir about growing up with her gay father, Steve Abbott, in 1970s and 1980s San Francisco. The film captures their close relationship while also illustrating the profound personal toll of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

As the disease intensified, grassroots networks of care and activism emerged, centered on compassion, survival, and political action. Out of this collective organizing came one of the most influential activist groups of the era: the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Founded in 1987, ACT UP became a major force in demanding expanded medical research, equitable healthcare, and government accountability in response to HIV/AIDS. Its members organized highly visible demonstrations to challenge misinformation and institutional inaction, staging protests at sites such as New York City Hall, the Food and Drug Administration, Wall Street, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Within ACT UP, smaller affinity groups formed around particular strategies and areas of expertise, allowing activists to share knowledge, build trust, and sustain collective action through years of struggle and grief.

Because of this painful history, HIV was long stigmatized and widely feared as a death sentence, including within parts of the LGBTQ+ community. Like the COVID-19 pandemic decades later, the early years of HIV/AIDS were marked by fear, uncertainty, and the absence of effective treatment. Many people diagnosed in the 1980s did not survive. Since then, however, advances in medical science have transformed HIV from a fatal illness into a manageable chronic condition. Today, HIV can be effectively treated with antiretroviral medications, and transmission can be greatly reduced through consistent condom use and preventive treatments such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Although there is still no cure, people living with HIV can now live long, healthy lives and may reach an undetectable viral load, meaning the virus is no longer measurable in standard tests and cannot be sexually transmitted. Public figures such as Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness, who is openly living with HIV, have also helped raise awareness, challenge stigma, and promote education about prevention and treatment (BBC Newsbeat, 2019).

Licenses and Attributions for The HIV/AIDS Pandemic