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Lachlan Stuart's perspective on social change relating to aids epidemic of 1980s

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ArranUpsideDown Sat 29-Feb-20 12:05:37

This is also fascinating as a piece of people's history on the handling of a previous public health matter (feels rather relevant now):

Back in the 80s the gay liberation movement came to an accommodation with corporate capital. There was a global recession on and we gay men (*that matters) wielded the Pink Pound. But that wasn't all. There was the AIDS epidemic, too.

At the time, we didn't know how bad it would be or how long it would last but it triggered a few social changes. Branches of the State needed to engage gay men (*again) in ways they hadn't done before, in the interest of public health. Pretty policing came to an end police harassment in cruising grounds, to be replaced by educators with leaflets and free condoms. Soft gay porn was sold for the first time, under the guise of health education, and certifications were recalibrated.

Full thread is worth reading.

twitter.com/Lachlan_Edi/status/1233564551326699520?s=20

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OhHolyJesus Sat 29-Feb-20 13:33:50

Thanks OP, will add to my ever increasing reading list!

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Michelleoftheresistance Sat 29-Feb-20 14:00:23

Very interesting thread, thank you.

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ArranUpsideDown Sat 29-Feb-20 18:48:36

I found it a very useful perspective both historically and on current events.

Some of the anti-asian hysteria and reports that I'm reading are all too reminiscent of the profoundly ignorant media coverage about marginalised and ostracised people in the 1990s that made Aids education so very difficult.

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