Reagan Administration's Chilling Response to the AIDS Crisis

[progressoid]

In honor of Nancy's death, let us not forget the Reagans' callous treatment of the victims of AIDS.

One of the most prominent stains on the reputation of the much-mythologized Reagan administration was its response, or lack of response, to the AIDS crisis as it began to ravage American cities in the early and mid-1980s. President Reagan famously (though, not famously enough) didn’t himself publicly mention AIDS until 1985, when more than 5,000 people, most of them gay men, had already been killed by the disease. Filmmaker Scott Calonico’s new documentary short, When AIDS Was Funny, exclusively debuting on VF.com, shows how the Reagan administration reacted to the mounting problem in chilling fashion. Not even Reagan’s appointed mouthpiece, notorious press secretary Larry Speakes, had much to say about the crisis beyond derisive laughter.

Using never-before-heard audio tapes from three separate press conferences, in 1982, 1983, and 1984, When AIDS Was Funny illustrates how the reporter Lester Kinsolving, a conservative (and not at all gay-friendly) fixture in the White House press corps, was consistently scoffed at when he posed urgent questions about the AIDS epidemic. With snickering, homophobic jokes and a disturbing air of uninterest, Speakes dismisses Kinsolving’s concerns about the escalating problem. “Lester was known as somewhat of a kook and a crank (many people still feel the same way),” says Calonico. “But, at the time, he was just a journalist asking questions only to be mocked by both the White House and his peers.”

What Calonico has compiled, juxtaposing the deeply troubling audio with images of AIDS patients at Seattle’s Bailey-Boushay House in the 1990s, is an infuriating summation of the Reagan administration’s fatal inaction in confronting a generation-defining tragedy. Watch the concise, damning short above, but be warned: it will make you angry.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/reagan-administration-response-to-aids-crisis

Nancy Reagan Turned Down Rock Hudson’s Plea For Help Nine Weeks Before He Died

“Only one hospital in the world can offer necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson or at least alleviate his illness,” Olson wrote. Although the commanding officer had denied Hudson admission to the French military hospital initially, Olson wrote that they believed “a request from the White House … would change his mind.”

First Lady Nancy Reagan turned down the request.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/nancy-reagan-turned-down-rock-hudsons-plea-for-help-seven-we#.qjnGW9k1pl

[markpkessinger]

1. I remember watching some of those press conferences . . .

. . . hearing them again after all these years -- it still makes my blood boil!

Interesting side note: Kinsolving used to have (maybe still does) a radio talk show, I happened to catch it sometime around the end of 1982, as I was driving home to Pennsylvania from college in Princeton (about a 4-hour drive). Kinsolving was ranting on and on with his anti-gay diatribe, spewing long-discredited (even at that time) slanders against gay people, and no one was challenging him. I got so angry that I pulled the car in to a rest stop off I-80 and called the show from a pay phone. I sparred with him for about 45 minutes on the air. I challenged him on every single point he tried to make. Eventually, he got frustrated and cut me off.

[progressoid]

2. Yeah, Lester's motivation certainly wasn't to help aids victims

He wanted to shine a light on the "sins" of the gays.

And shine a light on himself at the same time.