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Are there any positive consequences of the RiDS crisis??
The AIDS virus has changed the life of
the modern homosexual. Clearly, this
epidemic is the worst tragedy to strike
the homosexual community since
persecution in Hitler's Germany.
Perhaps the only difference is that the
virus is non-thinking and amoral while
Hitler's immoral actions required
careful forethought. Nonetheless, both
Hitler and AIDS precipitated crises in
the homosexual community.
Many other minority groups, including
Jews, Blacks, Asians, and women, have
been struck by crises and have found it
necessary to bond together in order to
make it through the time of crisis and
to reach the clearing on the other side
of the forest. This is the challenge
that faces all gay men and lesbians in
the midst of the AIDS crisis. Surely,
it is much easier to see the positive
results of decidedly terrible epochs in
history once one has made it through to
the next era. Yet, in order to make
the pain and challenges of today more
bearable, we should focus on what we
stand to gain as individuals and as a
community from this terrible disease
while still in its midst.
the evolution of life-style, political
awareness, and love
The 1960s bore witness to many
milestones in gay and lesbian rights.
While this was the decade in which many
homosexuals became politically active
for the first time in their public
lives, it was also the decade that
witnessed the personal evolution of the
"gay narcissist."
For the first time we, along with many
other Americans, began to explore
ourselves and to learn how to enjoy
pleasure without the associated guilt.
We felt free to be different for the
first time in our lives, and many gay
men began actively pursuing "different"
life-styles in a conscious and often
sub-conscious break with an oppressive
past dictated by strict norms.
The res-’lt was that for ten years or so
gay men became overly preoccupied with
the "self" and with its gratification
by whatever means available. Men have
historically (notoriously?) affirmed
their manhood through sex and conquest.
Thus, it comes as no surprise that gay
men as well began to assert themselves
sexually and to conquer other men.
What about love? Well, certainly love
continued to eek out an existence. But
increasingly love became confined to
love of self, because for so long our
"selves" had gone unloved. The sixties
and seventies
celebration:
freedom that
awareness, our
self-love.
were a time of
celebration, of the
accompanied political
new life-style, and
enter tragedy
The entry of the AIDS virus into the
gay community has gradually altered
many of the attitudes that were formed
in the sixties and seventies. This
change has come about at the cost of
many thousands of priceless human
lives, and if somehow it were possible
to end this epidemic now or have
prevented it from ever having happened
this would be ideal. But the fact
remains that AIDS is with us, and it
has fundamentally altered us a's
individuals and as a community.
the gay and lesbian community
The AIDS epidemic, though tragic in
itself, has had the positive effect of
re-incorporating the "gay narcissist"
into the larger "gay community," As we
have lost our brothers, lovers,
friends, and acquaintances to the
disease, we have been forced to bond
together more tightly to combat it. In
the late 1980s AIDS has become
central issue uniting members of
gay and lesbian community
simultaneously an issue uniting
the
the
and
the
homosexual
communities
and
the
heterosexual
A good example of this is the Names
Quilt, recently on display in
Washington DC. There were gays and
lesbians, homos and heteros, rich and
poor, black and white side by side
collectively mourning the loss of
nearly 9,000 wonderful human beings.
AIDS is tragic, but even more tragic is
the fact that it has taken such a
terrible event to precipitate such
unity. Yet surely these people have
not died in vain. Certainly the
victims of AIDS immortalized in the
Quilt would be moved by the sight of
thousands of "individuals" coming
together for such an expression of
"communal" love and compassion.
Another example is the phenomenon of
numerous buddy programs that have grown
up to provide support for PWAs. While
neither PWAs nor buddies are all gay
men, one outcome of these projects is
that gay men help other gay men by
reaching out to them in a purely
un"self"ish fashion, exemplifying once
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