The AIDS crisis gripped the world for most of the 1980s and 1990s, with an estimated 40.1 million people having died of HIV and AIDS by 2021. At the time, rather than being seen and treated as a serious pandemic that posed a threat to everyone, the perception of it was distorted to become a moral disease caused and spread by the LGBTQIA+ community. The AIDS crisis was rife with misinformation like this, originally being identified by many as a ÔÇÿgay diseaseÔÇÖ. The disease was largely ignored by the US and UK government for too long, most likely as a result of its main victims being LGBTQIA+, sex workers, intravenous drug users and racial minorities. There was even a rhetoric that painted AIDS as some divine punishment for immoral sexuality. In fact, in 2007, 23% of the American public still agreed with that idea. It was stigmatised in order to portray the LGBTQIA+ community as dangerous, sinful, promiscuous and dirty. This hatred and ignorance meant that the necessary help, research and treatment wasnÔÇÖt obtained for years, leading to the deaths of millions.
What is shocking is just how prevalent this stigmatisation of AIDS and HIV still is, and the impact it has on the LGBTQIA+ community today, from DaBabyÔÇÖs comments linking HIV, gay men and promiscuity in the middle of a performance to the continued obstructions that disproportionately affect many members of the LGBTQIA+ community in donating blood. The AIDS crisis and the vicious stigma associated with it is still used to villainise queer people, to depict them as dangerous and dirty. As a gay man, IÔÇÖve seen and experienced homophobia rooted in this, from veiled barbs about the dangers of ÔÇÿpromiscuityÔÇÖ to jokes about not wanting to share a drink with me. Whilst as a society, we might have moved past the days of seeing AIDS as some justifiable punishment from God, there is still a significant stigma both towards those living with HIV and AIDS and the LGBTQIA+ community.
The National AIDS Trust carried out research in 2021 which demonstrated not only the association of HIV with promiscuity and queer people, but also a serious misinformation issue. Many participants of the survey knew very little about how HIV was transmitted and many did not think it applied to them. The idea that it is still or ever was a ÔÇÿgay diseaseÔÇÖ is wrong and perhaps the taboo treatment of HIV and AIDS in our education system and social discourse is stopping people from truly understanding this. ItÔÇÖs easy for people to dismiss an issue as not affecting them or to subconsciously perpetuate the ideas that theyÔÇÖve been taught all their life. However, to do so is to allow people to continue to suffer under these harmful stereotypes which can have effects greater than many of us may ever see. The only way that we will manage to grow beyond these outdated stigmas and ignorant notions is through conversation and education and the best thing we can all do is attempt to listen and understand so that we can begin to call them out and challenge them.
ItÔÇÖs important to remember that HIV is not a death sentence, nor is it linked to promiscuity. Being LGBTQIA+ does not equal sexual immorality and it does not mean that they will contract HIV. Getting tested doesnÔÇÖt make someone a slag, it means theyÔÇÖre making a sensible choice to protect themself and others. With better education and open discourse, we may finally, as a society, begin to move on.
Words by Dominic Bramley-Carr
