What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's? - Page 2
What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
#25What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 1:19pm
The scariest thing to me is when I hear younger people treat HIV/AIDS like any other disease - as if contracting it is no different than having a disease like diabetes.
#26What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 1:32pm
Well, it isn't the death sentence it was. My doctor, who was in the center of the storm in the West Village has told me he hasn't lost a patirnt to AIDS related complications i over 15 years. Not to say it is something to dismiss.
redmustang
Broadway Star Joined: 5/14/03
#27What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 1:58pmPalJoey - you made me cry. I had to stop reading for a while. Thank you.
#28What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 2:35pm
PJ got it just right...unfortunately, it was indeed like that.
A brighter aspect, was the way the gay community rallied and took care of each other, since noone else would.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#29What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 3:34pm
I worked on too many of these.
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#30What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 3:34pm
Which became this...
wexy
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
#31What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 3:45pm
I'm 55 and straight, I probably knew 25 people coworkers and friends that died, People thought you were crazy for visiting them in the hospital and going to their funerals.
Plus I had just started working for Social Security disability and we didn't know to do with all these strange cases of Kaposi's Sarcoma which had been only seen in elderly people and weird brain infections like cytomegalovirus and cryptococcal meningitis.
Their was AIDS, the was ARC (aids related complex) Every case was an allowance because almost everyone died.
There has been progress; our diagnosis are now symptomatic and assymptomatic hiv+, I've probably allowed two cases in fives years for someone being really sick...
#32What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 4:41pmthat shot of the AIDS quilt is quite something. Some friends and I made a very large panel dedicated to 8 of our friends. We rented an art gallery for a big reception when it was completed, and then we traveled to DC to view the quilt.
#33What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 4:56pm
I worked for years with AIDS patients in clinics and eventually a doctor's office...part of my job was witnessing scenes like this:
Only, too often, the family wasn't there for the patient, and partners were not considered family, and nurses were often too afraid to properly care for patents. It was all a huge sad mess.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#34What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 5:09pm
Doodle, my first reaction when seeing that picture was thinking sadly at least he was lucky to have his loved ones with him.
So many people were forced to die or mourn lonely, antiseptic deaths.
#35What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 5:19pm
In 1993 when Kevin passed, things were starting to change. They were experimenting with the cocktail. Luckily Saint Vincents pretty much allowed me to move into his room. We even got permission to bring his dog up to say good-bye. The tears in his eyes when he saw old Foley walk in the door!
Jeesh I remember everyone grasping at straws. Blue-green algae, shark cartilage. Some folks I knew flew to Europe to have their body drained of blood, have it frozen and rewarmed and replaced. There was NOTHING people wouldn't try.
I met more then one grieving Mom who had no idea their son was gay and had no idea the wonderful group of friends they had in the Gay community.
#36What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 5:42pm
I was in junior high when the AIDS epidemic was surfacing, so my perspective is very different. It was a very confusing and frightening time. The disease spread most rapidly and notably through the gay community and mostly in the men. For too long, there were no answers, only speculation. Thus, a new gay stigma was formed and we still haven't fully recovered. There is still a LOT of anger towards the attitudes and conclusions formed at the time, but I'm really hoping people can be educated and forgiving enough to objectively analyze what happened when it happened. The disease sprout and spread much more rapidly than we could get answers, so the media and the public tried filling in the blanks and blaming the victims. The LGBT community fought hard to break free of the "gay cancer" stereotype, yet fiercely clung to everything AIDS-related in art, performance, literature and politics in a herculean effort to raise awareness and research. It got to the point where it was difficult to encounter anything in the gay community that wasn't linked to AIDS/HIV. Every gay play, musical or movie had to include one or more characters with HIV/AIDS who would usually get sick and/or die and being of a slightly younger generation and coming of age in the era of AIDS, it started to feel like a foregone conclusion. Now, I'm not saying this as a negative comment on the efforts of raising awareness at the time (who else was going to do it?), but as an honest perspective of a teenager who was terrified and confused not only to come out, but to interact socially (especially in a Texas suburb in the 80s). A bizarre cultural dichotomy was created within its own community.
Ultimately, I became a charter member who helped created Houston's first LGBT support group for teens. When we started, there were 3 teens and 2 adult sponsors. Now, it is a hugely successful organization and I'm planning to attend a meeting as a guest speaker later this year (their 25th anniversary).
#37What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 6:05pmIt makes complete sense that the majority of gay themed movies/theatre/novels from the 80s going into the 90s dealt with AIDS, but I do understand what you're saying. As a teen dealing with coming out (in the 90s though), and finding a lot of comfort in gay bnovels particularly, for a while I basically avoided anything written after the early 80s just because I couldn't deal with reading another depressing AIDS themed story.
#38What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 6:35pm
Just found this on line… I am still mourning it seems.When I saw it, I burst into tears.
http://173.165.165.36:591/FMRes/FMPro?-db=search%20the%20quilt.fp5&key=39558&-img
#39What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 6:52pmI didn't mean to sound glib, I definitely understand why it was so important to deal with AIDS in gay fiction (the cliche of bringing on asexual gay characters with AIDS for one episode "very special episodes" of various mainstream tv series, while well intentioned, was more obnoxious). Even though I wasn't born until 1980, my mother's best friend (and the guy who set my parents up together) had a long term boyfriend who was an actor with him, but got so sick with brain issues due to complications from the disease that he threw himself off of a Vancouver high rise when I was 8 or so, so I was always pretty aware of it it seemed. My mom actually has said in his way she found his suicide heroic, which is not something I expected (the boyfriend never contacted HIV and is working in theatre in Italy right now--I've stayed with him a couple of weeks on vacation but never been able to ask about it all).
#40What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 8:34pm
He died on December 20th, Snafu?
I hope you've had some better Christmases since then.
#41What was Gay Life like in the early 1980's?
Posted: 3/12/12 at 11:59pmEh, the Holidays always bring mixed emotions.
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