104: The AIDS Crisis Part 1

Today we present the first half of our two-part series on the 1980s AIDS Crisis and the way the epidemic unfolded in America during the first five years it was uncovered. There are few moments in history that have been darker for our community than the decade between 1980 and 1990. Almost every single LGBTQ+ person connected to the queer world watched someone they love die of the disease and most people watched countless of their siblings suffer. As if the horror of the disease itself were not enough, the way the crisis was portrayed to the world only stoked the fires of homophobia and created a bias that blocked medical help and prevented research funding.