Remembering the heroes and the villains of World AIDS Day

In 1988, the World Health Organization designated December 1 as World AIDS Day, a day to remember the effects of the AIDS pandemic and the toll it took on human life and perspective.

On that day, we take note of the people who perished as victims of an insidious virus that destroyed our ability to protect ourselves from disease. We know it more today as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but when it first appeared in the 1980’s, it was called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

And it was horrifyingly lethal. It did not discriminate in its victims.

Unfortunately … the discrimination came from other factors.

AIDS originally appeared as the acronym GRID – Gay Related Immune Disease – because the crisis first appeared in the gay community. And rather than immediately treat the virus as an illness that must be fought, many treated it as a sign of God’s punishment against the gay community. At the time, President Ronald Reagan was slow to acknowledge the devastating effects of AIDS and HIV in America, and what could have been a time for wisdom and compassion and empathy instead became a screed on homophobia.

Yep. I remember the jokes. GAY as an acronym for “Got AIDS Yet?” And when Magic Johnson announced he contracted HIV, the new joke was that Magic Johnson’s first name was an acronym for “My Ass Got Infected, Coach.” Ugh.

But there were heroes as well. Ryan White. Elizabeth Taylor. Arthur Ashe. Those who either fought against the flickering of the light, or moved heaven and earth to raise awareness when others ignored. We remember those who would not let HIV or AIDS take their dignity. Freddie Mercury. Keith Haring. Gil Scott-Heron. Amanda Blake. Eazy-E.

It is now 2025. While no one cure for AIDS has appeared, we now have medicines that can mitigate the symptoms and fight back against the disease. You’ve even seen commercials for PrEP products on television. But just like COVID-19, AIDS and HIV have not left this earth. The virus still exists. The virus still kills.

And, with the current administration’s Executive Order forbidding federal officials from acknowledging today as World AIDS Day, the demagoguery and homophobia surrounding this disease still festers like an orange boil.

Let us all remember those whose candlelights no longer shine, whose lives are gone from a tragic and painful and still-misunderstood disease.

The fight is not over.

And neither is the desire to find a cure.