#aids activism
The 1970s promised so much—gay liberation had broken through homophobic hate, and life for LGBTI people was being transformed. As the 1980s arrived, so too did homosexual law reform, anti-discrimination laws, gay media and a thriving gay culture. But then came a mysterious disease that seemed to target gay men, its cause and mode of transmission unknown. Suddenly, gay sexuality was stigmatised all over again, with panicky headlines referencing a “gay plague” or, in the case of Melbourne’s Truth newspaper, the overtly homophobic “Die, you deviate”. Talk of forced quarantining, compulsory testing and surveillance of gay men was everywhere.
In the US, President Ronald Reagan refused to utter the word AIDS in the first four years of the crisis, despite 60,000 being infected and 28,000 dying. As late as 1987, the US Congress banned the use of federal funds for AIDS prevention or for education that was in any way supportive of homosexuality. “Nobody left those years untouched”, wrote journalist David France, “not only the mass deaths—100,000 in New York alone—but also the foul truths that a microscopic virus had revealed about American culture: politicians who welcomed the plague as proof of God’s will, doctors who refused the victims medical care, ministers and often parents who withheld all but the barest shudder of grief”.
But LGBTI people were coming out of a period of activism and, despite the initial shock, were prepared publicly and defiantly to fight any attempt to take away what they had won.
READ MORE: Silence = death! Action = life! Activism in Australia’s AIDS crisis
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As part of our ongoing celebration of Pride this month, we’re highlighting works from three Whitney Collection artists who have either identified with, or fought for, the LGBTQ community through their art. David Wojnarowicz refused a signature style, adopting a wide variety of techniques with an attitude of radical possibility. His work spans photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing, and activism. David Wojnarowicz: A History Keeps me Awake at Night opens at the Whitney July 13!
[David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich]
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An invitation to G.M.H.C.’s first fundraiser, held at the legendary Paradise Garage, in 1982, which raised $50,000. At this point AIDS hadn’t even been identified as a virus.
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Covers from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis’ controversial series of comics published in the 80s that pissed of Senator Jesse Helms and cause Reagan to pull federal funding from any AIDS prevention material that mentioned gay sex.
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“Memento Mori 1991” – I started this piece last year and left it. Just finished it today for the upcoming LGBT Heritage Month book.
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#drawing#inkdrawing#pandemic#actup#aidsactivism#aidsmemorial#aids#epidemic#pinktriangle#lgbtq#lgbthistory#art #comicconathome #comicconathomeartshow
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“Don’t lose that anger. Just have a little more patience and forgiveness. For yourself as well.”
~ R.I.P. author and AIDS activist Larry Kramer (1935 - 2020)
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“They kept asking me why I had an AIDS foundation: why I cared? I wasn’t gay and I didn’t have AIDS. And I told them that the only reason anyone knows who I am in this world is because of the support and efforts made on my behalf by gay people. They believed in me when I didn’t know how to believe in myself.
Take away all the paintings, all the music, all the dance, all the films, all the theater, all the architecture and design, all the science, all the books; everything that was created by gay people. There would be so little left that what was left wouldn’t even matter.”
- ELIZABETH TAYLOR, 1990
