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What Are The Lgbt Community And The Aids Crisis

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The LGBT Community and the AIDS Crisis
In the early to mid-20th century homosexuality and other LGBT behaviors were taboo and overall ridiculed. Yet, the 80’s brought a huge blow to the LGBT community, but eventually led to the change of the community. This unified the LGBT community and propelled the idea of equality forward. The AIDS crisis of the 1980's paved the way to a new civil rights movement and it brought the different sectors of the LGBT community together. Yet, the connection of gay and AIDS was founded and discrimination rose due to the fear of AIDS.
The early start of the AIDS crisis began in 1981. In the beginning of June the CDC published a report that showed 5 gay men with a rare lung function known as Pneumocystis carinii …show more content…

This opened the door for many protests and also presented the opportunity for discrimination against the LGBT community. The conceived link between gays and AIDS has nothing to do with sexuality itself. AIDS can be contracted by practicing unsafe sex. This practice happened to be used by homosexuals due to the elimination of an accidental pregnancy occurring. Many protests occurred and many violent acts took place to help “prevent AIDS”. The paranoia associated with AIDS led to people becoming homophobic and some believed this would end the human race. This also promoted the religious and the right wing political agenda. AIDS was used to send out a message that God was punishing the gays. These politicians proposed many ideas to restrict LGBT rights and to overall suppress the lives to stop AIDS. The “God’s wrath” is what kept Reagan from getting involved and this was to prevent the agitation of the religious …show more content…

The term “LGBT” was coined after the different sectors of non-heterosexuals came together. Many gay groups stressed the importance of attention to AIDS instead of using discrimination to silence the real issue. This disease brought gay men and lesbians closer together. Before, the L and the G had been living in separate ways and not supporting each other on a large scale. The AIDS crisis created a sense of unity between the L and G. Lesbians took a stand and overall helped with care for people with AIDS. After the ban on gay men giving blood “Blood Sisters” became prominent. Lesbian groups filled the chunk missing of the blood donations due to AIDS and the ban, understanding also what it was like to be largely discriminated against. Being in a culture that was controlled by men they knew what it was like to be blamed for something that wasn’t their

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