Reagan Criticized for 'Ignoring' AIDS Epidemic

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 6/11/04 | Susan Jones

[kattracks]

(CNSNews.com) - Several homosexual advocacy groups are closed on Friday for a day of mourning -- but they won't be mourning President Ronald Reagan.

Equality California, which is fighting to legalize same-sex marriage, announced that it would join the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in closing its offices on June 11, 2004 in memory of the millions of people who have died of AIDS.

"As California's state-wide LGBT advocacy organization, whose roots come out of the AIDS pandemic, we are closing in honor of our brothers and sisters who died as a result of President Reagan's silence and failure to act," said Equality California Executive Director Geoffrey Kors.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force also announced that it would close on June 11 "in memory of all those we have lost to AIDS," the group's website said.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force website also carried a letter from Executive Director Matt Foreman, who blames President Reagan and "evangelical Christian conservatives" for deliberately ignoring the AIDS epidemic.

In the letter, addressed to his best friend Steven who died of AIDS in 1995, Foreman writes that even now, "I'm not able to set aside the shaking anger I feel over Reagan's non-response to the AIDS epidemic or for the continuing anti-gay legacy of his administration."

Foreman said he believes his friend Steven would still be alive today "if the Reagan administration had mounted even a tepid response to the epidemic."

Foreman believes the Reagan's administration's response was deliberate -- "dictated by the grip of evangelical Christian conservatives who saw gay people as sinners and AIDS as God's well-deserved punishment." He singles out Pat Buchanan, William Bennett, and Gary Bauer as three of the conservatives who never let science interfere with politics.

Foreman concludes that the "unholy pact President Reagan and the Republican Party entered with the forces of religious intolerance" has "grown exponentially stronger" over the years, and he sees that as Reagan's legacy.

Other homosexual advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans, expressed sadness at Reagan's passing.

"President Reagan will be remembered in part for his leadership in defeating the discriminatory Briggs Amendment in 1978, which would have banned gay and lesbian Californians from teaching in public schools," said Cheryl Jacques, who heads the Human Rights Campaign.

As California governor, Reagan opposed the Briggs Amendment, and activists credit him with turning voters against it.

Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, called Reagan "one of our nation's greatest presidents" and said his "inspirational vision for America relied on optimism, hope and an enduring faith in individual freedom."

[Hunble]

What should have happened with infected individuals was they should have been quarantined. The AIDS activists would have howled loud and long about this but it has worked for every epidemic where it has been tried.

As I stated on this thread a few days ago, my father was responsible for how CDC responded to the AIDS epidemic.

Today, we all know that he could have made wiser choices if he had been given unlimited authorization.

As you stated, a total quarantined would have stopped this disease almost immediately.

You and I both know how impossible a total quarantine for the homosexual population would have been. Then as now, no matter what the dangers to the American population.

Can you imagine the absolute hatred today, if President Reagan had authorized a total quarantine of individual homosexuals which were selected to be at the highest risk of spreading this epidemic?

Think about it...

[ServesURight]

I don't even know what a bath house is. Is it one of those port-a-potty things? Public restrooms?

[BlkConserv]

Eddie Murphy nailed the homos early in his career. In fact, they still hate him for it.

[Hunble]

You asked:

In the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's gay bathhouses evolved from being discreet places that were talked about in hushed tones to the modern, fully-licensed establishments that operated to serve the needs and desires of the gay community.

In addition, these new bathhouses were primarily gay-owned and operated, so they tended to attract an exclusively gay following. No longer clandestine, this new generation of bathhouses soon established themselves as a major gay institution that could respond to the social issues that were taking place at that time.

The assortment of bathhouses which opened during this period each boasted a unique character and clientele. For example, during weekdays businessmen could always be found at the Wall Street Sauna in New York, while students preferred the ten-story Man's Country on Fifteenth Street; admission $8 (but only a buck on Tuesday nights).

S&M types, on the other hand, found a niche at the New Barracks, especially on Thursday, which was known as "Dollar Dick" days. In Los Angeles, the scene was similar because many of the hottest studs in town waited in long lines to get into the 8709 Bathhouse, which was so drug-friendly that it was jokingly referred to as "The Pharmacy."

In San Francisco, if you were into heavy-duty bondage and fist-f*&#ing, you could get a room (with a sling) at The Slot on Folsom Street, where the word raunchy was probably coined. If that place was booked-up for the night, you might find accommodations at another bathhouse, the Handball Express, also for fist-f(*^ing, although not quite so extreme.

[TASMANIANRED]

I agree completely and totally that quarantine would have been a very non pc choice.

Regan during the 80's was totally hated for everything he did. Even though he , through congress spent a bundle on AIDS he still gets blamed for the spread of it.

One of the requirements of my nursing liscense for about 15 years was AIDS CEU's every liscense renewal period. Year after year the educational material on this failed to even mention the most effective means for preventing the spread of AIDS. DO NOT HAVE PROMISCUOUS ANAL SEX, AND DO NOT USE INJECTABLE DRUGS.

I don't know what your personal real life experience is, or if your Father personally saw AIDS cases. I have seen and cared for far too many.

I have seen anal herpes with lesions 10 inches in diameter. I have been there when men in their 20's died with Pneumocystis pneumonia. I have seen Karposki's.

Things are different now, there are lots of stabilizing drugs. It was vastly different in the 80's and early 90's.

It was grossly irresponsible of every one involved, from the government, the CDC, the medical profession and gay activists not to speak the truth.

AIDS is a behaviorally spread disease, it was completely and totally preventable. There were vast sums spent preventing the truth from being spoken. Everybody involved was too busy ignoring the elephant in the living room.

There was an assumption from the beginning that gay men and IV drug users would not curb their behavior. In a situation where the reservoir of the carriers of a 100% lethal disease will not voluntarily curb the means of transmission, then their behavior should have been curbed for them.

[Hunble]

Like you, my wife is also a Registered Nurse and has worked with many HIV/AIDS patients.

One evening, she came home and told me that she had accidentally poked herself with a syringe right after giving an AIDS patient an injection.

We both knew the risks and what that accident may imply. Such are the dangers of being a RN or married to one. Thankfully, we never tested positive for HIV, but it would not have changed anything with us. My wife continued providing nursing care to anyone.

Yes, my father was not simply sitting in a CDC office, but would get out into the field and visit patients often. He took his job personally and very seriously.

[First_Salute]

The DNC-"gay" militants who insist on a pill to cure what they willingly infest, are the same people who say in the same breathe, that the cure for cigarette smokers is to abstain.

[lentulusgracchus]

Well, some of them -- but the real hypocrites are the liberal media, whose baker's dozen of political press campaigns include both gay rights (and championing their position on the Lawrence decision that took down anti-sodomy statutes in the face of a clear public health and safety interest) and, as you noted, the anti-smoking campaign (and now also its anti-fat campaign cousin).