Michael Musto (Village Voice): COVID vs. AIDS: A Tale of Two Plagues

[tenderfoot]

When it comes to public health, haters and liars are nothing new

Having now experienced two—count ’em, two—plagues botched by Republican leadership, I can assure you that while the situations are dramatically different, the parallels are so striking that it’s basically déjà vu all over again.

Let’s start with the differences. AIDS is harder to get, requiring an intimate exchange of bodily fluids, although you can contract COVID just by shopping or getting in an elevator. But if you had contracted AIDS when it surfaced in the U.S. in the early ’80s, it was a surefire death sentence and a much scarier predicament than COVID has been for much of the populace, especially since vaccines came into play. What’s more, AIDS in the U.S. initially mostly attacked gay men and IV drug users (and hemophiliacs), a fact that stirred evangelical cries of “You deserve it, sinner!” and forced the queer community and its allies to fight for survival via organizing, fundraising, and activism, as the rest of the world gave nothing but a side-eye. The fact that Blacks and Latinos were being disproportionately affected by AIDS hardly made it more attention-worthy to a mostly white, straight establishment.

In that environment, many people with AIDS wouldn’t have dreamed of coming forward with their condition. In the ’80s, I urged HIV-positive writers Cookie Mueller and James Revson to out themselves for visibility’s sake, but neither saw the point, preferring to suffer in relative silence and avoid further oppression. (Mueller died in 1989 and Revson in ’91.) But today? People line up to spill their COVID test results to strangers on social media. With no apparent stigma and a diminished sense of doom because of the lower mortality rate (particularly if vaccinated and boosted), they’re practically wearing their statuses as badges of honor. And in NYC, you gotta show that vax card to eat at Katz’s Deli or see The Lion King, so you can’t be too coy about having been poked!

AIDS—which was first called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency)—was so stigmatized that onetime matinee idol Rock Hudson sent shock waves through the world in 1985 when he admitted he was sick with the virus. (This revelation was also received as his coming out as gay, another jolt to the People-reading masses.) Suddenly, a beloved icon was the face of this horror, and that galvanized some previously heartless deniers into a semblance of AIDS awareness. But though the actor died a little over two months later, the perception battle was far from won. Even after Rock sadly crumbled, I remember celebrities not only keeping their AIDS diagnoses secret but making sure their subsequent obits would be vague, for fear of “tarnishing” their legacy and their estate. When world-famous designer Perry Ellis died, in May 1986, it was reported to have been the result of viral encephalitis, a spokesman refusing to comment on whether that was AIDS-related, because “Those were Perry’s wishes.”

https://www.villagevoice.com/2022/01/26/covid-vs-aids-a-tale-of-two-plagues/