Click here to listen to a recording of Reagan's press secretary laughing about gay men dying of AIDS.
This short recording really brings things back. It demonstrates the Reagan Administration’s utter contempt for LGBTs, but it also reminds us how extremely homophobic our culture used to be. Reagan got away with ignoring the AIDS crisis, politically speaking, because most people just didn’t care and didn’t want to hear about it. Reagan’s press secretary laughed and made a joke of it when he was told about gay men dying of a mysterious illness. He laughed. He thought it was funny that gay men were dying. But the White House press corps also laughed. The press secretary wasn’t the only one laughing.
Back then, we were held in such contempt that respected, upstanding, educated citizens could openly laugh about us dying without fear of paying a social price. No one was going to think less of them for laughing at a dying homo.
That’s where we were then. Who has the strength to live in a society where respectable people can laugh at you if you’re dying?
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