LGBTQ Women in AIDS Activism – Part 2

The AIDS crisis exacted a terrible toll on LGBTQ people and other populations. In the early years of the epidemic, an AIDS diagnosis was almost invariably fatal. In the U.S., the groups most affected were gay men, intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs, and Haitians. Because gay men were among the first populations to be identified as high risk, AIDS was known in the early years as a gay disease, and because of that, people with AIDS were highly stigmatized. In fact, before the disease was called AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), it was called GRID — Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease.

Barely a decade after the Stonewall riots marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement and an increased level of visibility and freedom for LGBTQ people, AIDS precipitated a backlash. The federal government, which had sprung into action when a small number of Americans contracted Legionnaires disease, was almost completely unresponsive during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, as dozens of initial cases became hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. Notoriously, President Ronald Reagan didnt publicly utter the word AIDS until several years into the epidemic. The general public sentiment ranged from indifference to you brought this on yourself hostility.

Affected and infected populations had to be activists in ways that had little parallel with other diseases. LGBTQ women were in one of the population groups least at risk for contracting the disease, yet many of them played very important roles in AIDS activism. What drew them into the movement?

In this two-part series, OutCaster Lauren talks with Ann Northrop, a longtime journalist and activist. She is the co-host of Gay USA, TV’s weekly LGBT news hour. During the years at the height of the epidemic, she was active in New York’s ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — an influential group that countered public indifference and worked to spur the government into action.

Credits:

OutCasting youth participants Lauren, Alex, Andrea, Dante, Griffin, Julia, Max, Sophe, Quinn, Nico, Lucas, Dhruv. Assistant producer: Josh Valle; Executive Producer: Marc Sophos. 


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