Today In History - May 18, 1981

[+ azdr0710]

Though the reporting that day was soon realized to be incorrect, the first ever published article regarding yet-unnamed AIDS/HIV was in the New York Native, a then-new gay newspaper......

 

 

it reported early on the emerging health crisis, but, later, the newspaper ran into controversy regarding conspiracy theories and the highly-profitable AZT drug and eventually went out of business....

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by azdr0710

[+ Charlie]

Though the reporting that day was soon realized to be incorrect, the first ever published article regarding yet-unnamed AIDS/HIV was in the New York Native, a then-new gay newspaper......

 

 

it reported early on the emerging health crisis, but, later, the newspaper ran into controversy regarding conspiracy theories and the highly-profitable AZT drug and eventually went out of business....

 

Boy, does this post bring back memories. I remember sitting on a blanket on the grass in Central Park in 1981, to hear a performance by the Met, and two of my friends on the blanket with me brought up that article in the Native. It was the first time I heard the rumor about the "gay cancer." All three of us were slightly acquainted with Native publisher Charles Ortleb, who we thought was kind of loony, and we figured this was not something to be taken seriously....except that Fred, a guy whom one friend had been dating, was suffering from some kind of infection that he couldn't seem to get rid of. He finally died several months later, and my friend said that the last time he visited Fred in the hospital, there was a "hazard" symbol on the door of his room.

 

Everyone on the blanket with me that day eventually died of AIDS. Another friend of mine with AIDS was convinced by John Lauritsen not to take AZT; he died, too.

[+ oldNbusted]

I remember a friend of mine, who I tended to listen to, and who was even more promiscuous than I was, telling me I should be careful. I took it as seriously as anyone my age at the time would. I had a porn mag with an article in it during the brief time in 1982 it was being called G.R.I.D. Almost all my friends from that time are dead.