The AIDS epidemic hit the LGBTQ+ community hard in the 1990s. Despite it’s large impact on multiple communities, the AIDS epidemic was largely ignored by the political administration. Pat Buchanan infamously said, “The poor homosexuals. They have declared war on nature and now nature is exacting an awful retribution” (Rimmerman). Die ins, like the one shown above, were used as a form of protest and a way to gain awareness for the issues faced. Organizations like ACT UP called for political action and funding of AIDS research.
Photo by Chuck Stallard June 1990
Image Received From: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll4/id/375/rec/54
Additional Citation:
Craig Rimmerman, “The Conflict Over HIV/AIDS Policy,” in The Lesbian and Gay Movements. Assimilation or Liberation? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2015), 33-74.