What would've happened if HIV had afflicted the straight community first?

[Paragon]

My personal favorite part of The Reagan Legacy. :eyes:

[ronnykmarshall]

1. We would have found a cure by now.

[Paragon]

2. Well, yeah.

It was kind of a rhetorical question.

[dsc]

3. No we wouldn't have

There has never been a cure for a viral illness which AIDS is. We might have found a vaccine but not a cure.

[salin]

17. we certainly would have invested a whole lot more resources

into research, and public information - rather than treating it lightly as a disease among marginalized sectors of society (setting the tone of blame on the victims.)

[Vickers]

4. There would have been condom distributions at every church in America

:eyes:

When was the first time Reagan even MENTIONED AIDS in public? 1986, 1987?

[forgethell]

15. Probably not.

some churches, yes. But conservative churches believe in abstinence. don't need condoms for that.

[Disandra]

5. Well....

Under Regan, it would be the woman's fault because we are "sinful." And probably women of color.

Why? Here is my reason:

Ever noticed that the whole family values crowd shouts about "the problem of single mothers?" It can't be the man's fault because women are the sinful ones.

They cut social programs because of some mythological "Welfare Queen" (usually portrayed as a black woman with 8 kids high on crack most of the time).

They defeated the ERA. Numerous reasons there....

"Working mothers" was another "catch phrase" used to blame the world's problems on women.

Also, how dare a successful, single mother who can afford a child go it alone (even if she was a TV character...Murphy Brown anyone?)!

Sorry if this post sounds bitter...but I was a young girl in the 80s, and it was a very confusing time being a child then (for both girls and boys, at least that is what I am told). I guess Regan being in the news (again) is bringing it up again....

[Ripley]

8. Nice post.

I just saw a chart on the front page of the paper yesterday about the gender gap in pay. Still something like 72 cents on the dollar. For Judges the disparity was astounding...something like 60 cents on the dollar.

And I really get sick of supposedly liberal men saying that's not true! Women just take lower paying jobs than men! Let's see, I'm going to be a dentist and because I'm female I'm going to expect to be paid 3/4 of what my male counterparts get paid! Yep, dumb me. Always trying to be so compassionate and understanding...if a patient can't afford the bill...I'll do the work for FREE! It's all my fault.

[smirkymonkey]

10. That is exactly how it would have played out

These cowards always need a scapegoat to survive - as long as it isn't straight white men.

I hope their day is soon coming to an end. The majority of us, women, gays, people of color, etc. are getting pretty tired of taking the fall for them every single time something goes wrong.

[Gildor Inglorion]

6. Remember Legionnaire's Disease? Swine Flu?

Every research scientist, every doctor, every laboratory in the country would have been mobilized. Billions upon billions of dollars would have been poured into research and finding a cure (or vaccine). Surviving partners would have been given pensions from public funds. Instead, most of the country (c'mon, admit it!) was just a bit gleeful that "those awful people" were finally getting what they deserved. What a world.

[mike_c]

7. IIRC, it did....

In central Africa, where HIV jumped from chimpanzees to humans, probably from eating infected bush meat. The earliest confirmed AIDS death was a Bantu man in 1959. Based on viral mutation rates, it's estimated that the actual shift to humans occurred during the 1600's and that the current epidemic began in Africa in the 1930's.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

13. ...and still does

The notion of HIV as a "gay plague" is a myth: of 34.3 million cases worldwide, sub-Saharan Africans living with AIDS (primarily heterosexual) account for 24.5 million (71%) of the total while Americans living with AIDS (primarily homosexual) account for 920,000 (.02%) of the total.

The reason no Apollo-scale program has been, or ever will be, mounted to eradicate the illness is that a potentially fatal sexually transmitted disease that disproportionately affects both niggers and faggots is considered a solution to the problem in itself.

[mike_c]

14. I'd say you nailed that one pretty damned accurately....

eom

[Another Bill C.]

9. One person's perspective.

In 1982, the method of transmission for AIDs was well-known and publicized. In 1983 the gay bathhouses were voluntarily shutting down across the country.

In 1984 I returned to a single life (widowered) and was amazed at the change in attitudes toward casual sex that came about during my married years. Women were extremely wary of the men they met. Even the customary New Year's Eve kissing by casual acquaintences was out.

The sexual freedom that women had gained with the pill seemed to have dissipated with the fear of AIDs. They became very selective in choosing partners. Had they not responded in this way, AIDs would have spread among the heterosexual population in a flash.

Heterosexual women took on the the responsibility that few men are capable of and that responsibility seems to have worked better than any medical solution.

I really missed the '70s -- that is until I got so old it didn't matter any more.

[SheilaT]

11. Had it struck the heterosexual community first

but the means of transmission were still primarily sex and iv drug usage, then those with AIDS would still be vilified and condemned as immoral humans who deserved what happened to them.

Heterosexual chastity would be the highest possible value, condoms would have become virtually unobtainable other than with a doctor's prescription, and there would be the usual denial and cover-up as members of the Christian right would also get the disease. They'd simply be denying and covering up a different thing -- heterosexual rather than homosexual sex.

[the_real_38]

12. Man, I guess they would have had to close all of those ....

.... straight bath-house sex clubs in my neighborhood.

[ThomWV]

16. what akes You Think It Didn't?

Other than that one monkey-fucker, that is.

[supernova]

18. We'd have Comprehensive AIDS centers

the same way we have CCC at major research universities today.

[LittleApple81]

19. Not very different. Except: gays were an easier population to

despise and hate.

The only thing that made a difference is that it allowed the "moral majority" to concentrate their fear-related anger on a part of the community that was already the target for this anger before. So it was a bigger fear and "more justified" anger. They would have hated heterosexuals too, but it would have been more diluted. I don't think it would have made a difference in terms of funding.