LGBT History Month: HIV/AIDS- Keva Bush, Surbiton High School

If you’re like most of us, when you think of the 80s, chances are you’ll conjure up the image of synth music, bright colours, big phones and bigger hair, but this inarguably iconic decade also housed one of the worlds biggest global epidemic since the outbreak of the Spanish flu. Today, we’re going to be talking about the 1981 HIV and AIDS outbreak.

First things first, HIV and AIDS, whilst often grouped together, are not the same thing. HIV, standing for ‘Human immunodeficiency Virus’, is a sexually transmitted virus which weakens your immune system. AIDS, standing for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is the life threatening medical condition which occurs in the late stages of HIV 

HIV was only identified in the early 80s, but has been in humans for far longer. Some people notice no symptoms when they are first infected with HIV but within 6 weeks of infection most people suffer a short illness, lasting around two weeks. Symptoms include a body rash, sore throat and fever.

So, what are countries doing about it now? Well, in 2014, UNAIDS established the global 90-90-90 targets. The aim was for 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed to receive HIV treatment and 90% of those receiving treatment to achieve viral suppression, by 2020.  Since then, these targets have been both met and exceeded. (You can now get a free test at any sexual health clinic, including ones ran by charities such as the Terrence Higgins Trust)

Now that I’ve discussed the background on AIDS, let’s talk about the stigma surrounding it. During the 80s, there was a lot less to reference when it came to the LGBTQ spectrum. The media representation was heavily biased, so with this lack of queer education, it’s no wonder that people saw being gay as a ‘sin’ or a ‘disease’.  So if we take into account the highly homophobic social context in which news of the condition first started circulating, then it’s no wonder that people were ashamed of seeking treatment, meaning that they would develop the terminal illnesses previously mentioned.

This meant that in less than three years, 58 people had died and hundreds more had tested positive.

Still, the government was refused to acknowledge the disease until heterosexual couples were getting affected, that was when we saw the release of the infamous Grim Reaper and Revolver ads released in 1987

Yet another misconception is that you can ‘catch’ HIV through any other method than bodily fluids. You CANNOT get HIV through; 

Hugging

Kissing

Sharing food

Insect bites

Bathing 

Sneezing

Sweat

Leading on from that, you cannot prevent HIV by 

Washing after sex

Having sex with a virgin 

Using a contraceptive pill

To protect yourself from HIV, you will need to use a condom (in the case of heteronormative couples)

Obviously, for couples who are LGBT, different methods of contraception are used. You can use methods like dental dams and latex gloves. It’s also important to note that chances of catching or spreading HIV is significantly lower in AFAB (assigned female at birth) couples

The good news, however, is that people are becoming more open to talking about HIV, meaning people are better informed, reducing the number of myths being spread. This was centrally due to several celebrities coming forward about the issue. For example, Freddie Mercury and ‘Queer Eyes’ Jonathan Van Ness.