Roy Cohn Essay

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Politics and policies have a great impact on society, congressional decision can affect individuals but also a whole religion. The world has a long history of genocides that mostly derived from high political figures’ policies. A common theme in genocide or hate is scapegoating, blaming one for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or on large scale societal issues for reasons of expediency or elimination. The 1980’s social issues were defined by the AIDS epidemic, having great effects in the LGBTQ+ and the drug community. President Ronald Reagan and much of the American Government turned a blind eye to this issue leaving
LGBTQ+ in a crisis but additionally scapegoating them calling AIDS a gay disease. Similar to today, these politics created a nation with much hate due to fear, crippling the identity of LGBTQ+ and AIDS victims.
Through the character of Roy Cohn the play gains contemporary relevance as he mirrors sentiments of many Trump supporters. Ironically, Cohn is based on the real-life Roy Cohn, Trump’s mentor and Lawyer. Both fictional and real-life characters died from AIDS and hated gays. In the 1950’s real-life Cohn played a large role in the lavender scare, a mass firing of homosexual people in the United States Government. Republicans deemed homosexuals just as bad or worse than communists. Fictional Cohn embodies these …show more content…

Prior fears Louis will leave him once his lesions are exposed and his fate ends being true. Louis confesses to a Rabbi, “what does the Holy Writ say about someone who abandons someone he loves at a time of great need?” (Kushner, 36). The rabbi is shocked any human would do such a thing. The broken relationship between Prior and Louis is immensely powerful as the disease ruined their relationship. Being infected with AIDS in the 1980’s and in many scenarios today impact social relationships and potentially leaves the infected abandoned by loved