AIDS at 25

Reason ^ | August 14, 2006 | Ronald Bailey

[Salman]

...

By chance I became aware of AIDS early on. For three months in 1980, I lived on the couch of a college friend in New York City while I hunted for lodging that I could afford on my pitiful starting salary as the writer of an in-house newsletter for the advertising department of The New Yorker. My friend was a resident in pediatrics at a city hospital and he was gay. Despite the grueling hours he spent treating sick children, my friend did manage to enjoy the thriving downtown gay club scene with some frequency. This was the heyday of bathhouses and flamboyant promiscuity.

...

[Salman]

Read the whole thing.

[ShadowAce]

Gay pediatricisn

Two words that should never go together.

< shiver >

[MrEdd]

My first thought also.

[PeterPrinciple]

".....For example, in the mid-1980s, I once expressed my exasperation to an employer that some people thought that AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuality. He looked at me sharply and said, "Ron, how do you know that it's not?" Indeed, I don't know the mind of the Deity, but if He wants me to believe that He punishing gays with AIDS, He'll have to tell me so Himself....."

"How do you know it is not?" is a good response. There are consequences to behaviors and homersexuality is a behavior!

[JackDanielsOldNo7]

Ahhhhhhhhh..the disease Reagan started....Along with the crack epidemic.

SARCASM

[RegulatorCountry]

"homersexuality"

D'oh!

[BipolarBob]

"How do you know it is not?" is a good response."

But it was not the response he wanted to hear. And he took it as judgmental. I do not judge the person I judge the sin. I myself am a sinner and I should do what I can to avoid sin and alert others to one that has such a direct connection to death.

[ErnBatavia]

Reminds me of two bumper stickers I saw once...that should never go together...

One side of the rear bumper was the gay rainbow thingie, and on the other side was a "Give Blood - The Gift Of Life" sticker.

Shudder....

[Brujo]

homersexuality

Boy, there's a mental image I didn't need!

[brownsfan]

" "How do you know it is not?" is a good response. There are consequences to behaviors and homersexuality is a behavior!"

Exactly. Recently I've contemplated our attempt to turn God into a warm, fuzzy, teddy bear. A God who loves all, regardless of what they do, and accepts all behavoir.

Did He destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Didn't He destroy all but Noah and his tribe when the world was too filled with evil? Look at the world, the natural world. It is a harsh existence for most animals. There are lessons in this.

I don't believe God is a super Santa Claus waiting to make us happy. I think God is more of a strict loving teacher, hoping for, and trying to help us learn lessons.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

I read the whole article. Sad, but not one mention of what would truly stop the AIDS empidemic, a man keeping his penis out of the rear of another man.......

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

How would you like to find out your doctor is engaging in risky behavior? Should they have disclosure laws for healthcare providers?

[aligncare]

...In the early days of the epidemic, the gay communities of major cities were devastated and attending the funerals of friends who died young...

And yet, during that same time frame, the "gay community" fought every normal, customary, neccessary, common sense health measure for preventing the spread of a disease, available to the public health community.

Political correctness thus insured the spread of the virus to epidemic proportions.

[BigSkyFreeper]

By chance I became aware of AIDS early on. For three months in 1980

We were all made aware of it in 1980. Back then, liberal creeps like you blamed Reagan for creating AIDS.

[demkicker]

The best hope for stopping the AIDS epidemic is the development of an effective vaccine.

Wrong. The best hope for stopping the AIDS epidemic is for everyone to only use their anuses to defecate. Problem would be solved...

[xjcsa]

We were all made aware of it in 1980. Back then, liberal creeps like you blamed Reagan for creating AIDS.

Reagan wasn't president in 1980, and AIDS hadn't even been named yet.

[N. Theknow]

And yet, during that same time frame, the "gay community" fought every normal, customary, neccessary, common sense health measure for preventing the spread of a disease, available to the public health community.

And still does.

Ever wonder why insurance companies want to know if applicants smoke? But never ask if a person is a homosexual.

[308MBR]

Please refrain from attempting to apply common sense to the behavior patterns of reprobates. It won't work.

[demkicker]

You're right. Condemning buggering is not politically correct.

[Buck W.]

I became aware of it in the early 80s. I belonged to an organization called the American Institute of Decision Sciences (aka AIDS) that changed its name as the disease became big news.