A Sad Anniversary

Twenty nine years ago today, on June 5, 1981, the Center for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published a report of five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among previously healthy young men in Los Angeles. All of the men were described as "homosexuals"; two had died.

And thusly were the first cases of what is now known as AIDS introduced to the world.

Twenty nine years ago the numbers of those infected were most likely small enough to have been brought under control had the situation been treated like any other health issue. Twenty nine years later the numbers of those infected represent a world wide pandemic of disease that continues to claim life after life, particularly in the parts of our world where access to medicines and medical care is less than adequate. Control remains a distant and elusive goal.

To our eternal regret and damnation, this medical condition was not treated like any other health issue. Politics, prejudice, ignorance, stigma, and moralization were allowed to seize control from science and medicine.

In the United States the first to be identified as infected represented the "four H" club: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, hookers and Haitians. All were stigmatized. Even hemophiliacs who became infected through infected blood products were treated as pariahs. The stigma of AIDS persists to this day, affecting housing, employment, access to medical care, and ordinary social interaction.

Ignorance about how the syndrome of disease was transmitted created an atmosphere of fear and distrust. When it is unclear how disease is passed among us, we react and overreact rather than seek to find the truth.

Politics immediately inserted an ugly twist to the situation. First the syndrome was named GRID, which stood for Gay Related Immune Deficiency. And with that naming an entire segment of the population was further stigmatized and essentially dismissed. Never had a medical condition been so directly connected to a group of people rather than a medical cause.

Two presidential administrations allowed politics to govern everything from research to care rather than treat the situation as a medical situation desperate for a proper medical response rather than a political response. When a presidential administration did attempt to address the problem, efforts were hamstrung by the politics that controlled the Congressional branch of government. It seems the only way politics lost sway over the situation was when things were truly out of control and had begun to threaten more than just those infected.

Stigma resulted in people being fired from jobs, being evicted from housing, being refused medical treatment (at one point even including services after death such as autopsies and embalmings), being ostracized from social groups and now keeping those who may be infected from even finding out that information for further fear of stigmatization by others who might subsequently learn of their status.

Prejudice already existed against those perceived as different from the majority. Add to that a medical condition that was mistakenly presumed to be associated with those same groups, and prejudice was multiplied. Gay men were already suspect to most of the population. Hookers were on the margins already as well. Haitians, being people of color, already knew about prejudice. Even hemophiliacs were often viewed a being flawed in some way because of their already existing medical condition.

When moralization gained a foothold in the mix, pretty much the ultimate confluence of negativity prevailed. Certain religious leaders were quick to claim God's judgment as the source of disease. Other religious leaders jumped on the existing bandwagon against gay men, prostitutes and anyone else who did not fit within the bounds of their particular definition of morality. Science and medical science were not immune to the moralization, nor were the sources of funds that might be used to address the health issue.

Moralization and stigma drove members of certain communities underground rather than be subjected to the pain inflicted upon them. Those who had acted in secret sought further secrecy for protection. Secrecy and seeking medical care are often self excluding activities. Secrecy puts others, particularly women, at great risk of infection. Infection rates reflect that fact all too clearly.

Faith groups refused to offer some degree of stability to relationships by dismissing rather than blessing them. Those same faith groups then condemned any who might seek relationships without their blessing and further condemned those who were not interested in being in a stable relationship. Refusing to provide a source of stability in relationships and subsequently condemning those same relationships enforces hypocrisy.

Some of us have been more intimately involved in this horrific sequence of events and history than others. Many of us have lost dozens if not hundreds of friends while we waited as cries for help and medical attention went unanswered. Some generations survived decimation by the Vietnam War only to be further decimated by death from this disease. Those of us who managed to survive both now face the "normal" issues of aging and death....I suppose the first were in training and preparation for our later lives.

To her great credit in understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Episcopal Church was among the leaders of faith groups first responding to AIDS. We remain committed even though we often mistakenly think that those living with HIV are no longer as present in our pews. Some have even fallen into the trap of believing HIV/AIDS has "moved" to Africa, Asia and Central and South America. HIV/AIDS has become a world-wide pandemic, but it has NEVER left the United States. There are areas in Province IV, for example, with infection rates that rival sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty, prejudice, stigma, ignorance and moralization continue to hold sway wherever they can.

So on this 29th anniversary of the announcement that AIDS had come to be among us, may we all pause in memory of those who have died, pause in thanksgiving for those who continue to live despite HIV, and pause to intercede for a vaccine and a cure to be found in at least some of our lifetimes.

Bruce

bruce.garner@att.net

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.." John 16: 12-13a

"Since when do you have to agree with people just to defend them from injustice?" Lillian Hellman, Writer (1905-1984)