How the AIDS Crisis Helped Move Gay Rights Forward
The gay rights movement has an interesting history. I think most people pinpoint its beginning in around the 50s and 60s, when, in parallel with the counterculture and hippie movements of the time, gays began to search for their own form of liberation. For many, that came in the form of embracing sex, joining like minded communities, etc.
However, I think, as the movie "The Normal Heart" shows, the AIDS crisis changed the shape of the movement drastically. When AIDS first was suspected as a gay-only disease, it was immediately attached to the social stigma people already had. As a result, government officials and the public widely ignored the literal epidemic attacking a minority of America. In a sense, this harmful ignorance is why the gay community began to really work cohesively for change - because it was so disgusting that everyone could just do nothing about what happened. And I think the public eventually realized how ridiculous anti-LGBT sentiment is, because you must really hate someone to essentially condemn them to death (by not helping with treatment).
Though I believe that it's terrible that the AIDS crisis had to happen, and that so many people suffered because of it, I don't think that LGBT rights would be so far today if not for the crisis. I don't know if I'd be able to say that I'm glad it happened, but I really think it propelled us toward equality in a way that a non-crisis would not be able to.
To me, this is a situation of do-the-ends-justify-the-means? I'm not sure what my answer is.
However, I think, as the movie "The Normal Heart" shows, the AIDS crisis changed the shape of the movement drastically. When AIDS first was suspected as a gay-only disease, it was immediately attached to the social stigma people already had. As a result, government officials and the public widely ignored the literal epidemic attacking a minority of America. In a sense, this harmful ignorance is why the gay community began to really work cohesively for change - because it was so disgusting that everyone could just do nothing about what happened. And I think the public eventually realized how ridiculous anti-LGBT sentiment is, because you must really hate someone to essentially condemn them to death (by not helping with treatment).
Though I believe that it's terrible that the AIDS crisis had to happen, and that so many people suffered because of it, I don't think that LGBT rights would be so far today if not for the crisis. I don't know if I'd be able to say that I'm glad it happened, but I really think it propelled us toward equality in a way that a non-crisis would not be able to.
To me, this is a situation of do-the-ends-justify-the-means? I'm not sure what my answer is.
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