• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Politics
  • Health
  • Travel
  • Gay Pride
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Men
  • Space
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Monkeypox
  • Film/TV

US LGBT community draws on AIDS experience to fight Covid

Towleroad January 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
AFP
485921 origin 1
David Perruzza, owner of the Washington gay bar Pitchers, stands behind signs requiring proof of patrons' Covid-19 vaccination

Washington (AFP) – From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as fear and isolation spread, Dave Perruzza had one thought — he had seen it before.

“For me, it was thinking about the AIDS epidemic all over again, how nobody took it seriously,” said Perruzza, who owns two LGBT bars in Washington, the US capital.

“We were like, ‘Well, we’re going to take this seriously.'”

With the Omicron variant fueling fresh restrictions around the world, some older members of the LGBT community say their shared experience of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s put them ahead of the curve throughout the pandemic.

Perruzza has for months been requiring customers show Covid vaccination cards to enter his bars — popular gay spot Pitchers and neighboring lesbian venue A League of Her Own, in the Adams Morgan district of the city.

He implemented his vaccine rules in July, one of the first in Washington to do so — and months before the local government began this month to do the same.

“I think my age bracket is the last bracket that saw people that actually died of AIDS,” Perruzza, 43, who lost his first boyfriend to the disease, told AFP.

“I’m not going to let history repeat itself.”

The HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States raged for two decades after the first US case was discovered in 1981, and still claims lives today.

It primarily affected gay and bisexual men, Black and Latino men and trans women.

Then-president Ronald Reagan didn’t declare AIDS research a federal priority until 1985, and the first treatment was developed in 1987.

By the end of 2000, at least 450,000 people had died of AIDS in the United States, according to government data.

Same ‘hysteria and lies’

The pandemic has also brought back painful memories for Eric Sawyer, a founding member of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP, who also lost his partner to the disease.

“The misinformation, the hysteria, the spread of just absolute lies (and) the attempts by individuals to address it being part of the problem,” said Sawyer, who also worked with the UN’s HIV/AIDS program.

“The stigma and discrimination that people who had Covid face… completely parallel the HIV response.”

But some lessons may have been learned between the two health crises.

“The HIV epidemic taught us that education, testing and access to prevention methodologies” can be effective, said Sawyer.

HIV activists have also advocated for better distribution of supplies, as well as vaccine access for poor communities, communities of color and homeless people.

Even as these activists worked to combat Covid-19, however, the pandemic took a toll on the ongoing fight against HIV.

Studies by the Global Fund and UNAIDS found that the pandemic worldwide caused an 11 percent drop in prevention and treatment and a 22 percent drop in testing in 2020.

UNAIDS attributed the decrease to lockdowns that forced people into isolation, shuttered health services and disrupted HIV/AIDS programs.

‘You have to care’

“Because of our community’s now-four decades of experience with HIV, we understand chemical trials, we understand antivirals,” Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told AFP. “We’re not afraid of science.”

“As a community, we have a lot of solidarity,” he added, pointing out that many of those living with HIV are immunocompromised and need extra support.

LGBT activists rallied early in the pandemic to organize financial aid and safe housing for HIV-positive people. They also set up Covid testing at sexual health centers and Pride events.

Gay bars across the country began requiring proof of vaccination at the door, months before some US states followed suit. Almost half the states still reject any such requirements.

“LGBTQ bars are different… more like community centers,” said Ed Bailey, who co-owns Washington gay bars Trade and Number 9, pointing out that gay bars have distributed HIV literature and condoms for decades.

“Our bars are sometimes the only place some of the people that patronize us are able to go and be comfortable enough to be who they are,” said Bailey, 55. “That creates an entirely different level of responsibility.”

“You have to care about your community.”

Topics: Aaon, towleroad

  • Actor Kevin Spacey facing sexual assault charges in UK

    Actor Kevin Spacey facing sexual assault charges in UK

    Published by AFP The two-time Oscar winner was artistic director of the Old Vic London (AFP) – Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey is facing sexual assault charges in the UK, police and prosecutors said on Thursday, after …Read More »
  • Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died aged 60

    Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died aged 60

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died aged 60. The keyboardist and founding member – who was born in Nottingham and moved to Basildon in the 70s – of the 80s band …Read More »
  • TV board dismisses Senator’s request to allow parents to shield kids from LGBTQ characters; Cites 95% Parent Satisfaction With Ratings

    TV board dismisses Senator’s request to allow parents to shield kids from LGBTQ characters; Cites 95% Parent Satisfaction With Ratings

      Published by The Kansas City Star   The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board dismissed a request from Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, asking them to update their ratings system so parents could shield …Read More »
  • Apple unveils new Pride Apple Watch bands and watch face

    Apple unveils new Pride Apple Watch bands and watch face

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Apple has unveiled new Pride bands and a watch face for the Apple Watch to mark Pride Month. The tech giant is releasing a Pride Edition Sport Loop and the Pride …Read More »
Previous Post: « Adele Flees Las Vegas, Spotted In Slippers At Boyfriend Rich Paul’s Beverly Hills Mansion Hours After Tearfully Canceling Shows
Next Post: Analysis-‘Aggressively conservative’ Supreme Court plunges into U.S. culture wars »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Don McLean, Larry Gatlin Pull Out Of NRA Convention Concert In Texas

    Don McLean, Larry Gatlin Pull Out Of NRA Convention Concert In Texas

  • Trump must testify in New York probe, appeals court rules

    Trump must testify in New York probe, appeals court rules

  • Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children

    Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children

  • The staggering toll of gun violence in the United States

    The staggering toll of gun violence in the United States

Break

  • Justin Timberlake has sold his song catalogue in a deal reportedly worth 100 million dollars

    Justin Timberlake has sold his song catalogue in a deal reportedly worth 100 million dollars

  • Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

    Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

  • Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

    Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

  • Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

    Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

RSS Partner Links

  • OMG, his butt: Actor Devon Sawa in HACKS Season 2
  • OMG, LISTEN TO THIS: Dua Lipa and Young Thug team with Calvin Harris for ‘Potion’ video
  • Jacinda Ardern Delivers Harvard Commencement Speech: DEMOCRACY CAN BE FRAGILE
  • Morning Round-Up: James Scully; Jodie Foster; Jake Borelli; Andy Cohen; Ellen DeGeneres
  • eBay Is Homophobic (Literally) & Full Of Shit
  • Birthday Sluts
  • Caption Me
  • Song of the Day: 'Blasphemous Rumours' by Depeche Mode
  • Page 1 Roundup (05/27)

Most Recent

  • ‘The Reckoning Is Going To Happen’: Kevin Spacey’s Brother Slams Actor Hours After Sexual Assault Charges

    ‘The Reckoning Is Going To Happen’: Kevin Spacey’s Brother Slams Actor Hours After Sexual Assault Charges

  • Actor Kevin Spacey facing sexual assault charges in UK

    Actor Kevin Spacey facing sexual assault charges in UK

  • Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died aged 60

    Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died aged 60

  • TV board dismisses Senator’s request to allow parents to shield kids from LGBTQ characters; Cites 95% Parent Satisfaction With Ratings

    TV board dismisses Senator’s request to allow parents to shield kids from LGBTQ characters; Cites 95% Parent Satisfaction With Ratings

  • Apple unveils new Pride Apple Watch bands and watch face

    Apple unveils new Pride Apple Watch bands and watch face

  • Lithuanian parliament agrees to consider same-sex partnership bill

    Lithuanian parliament agrees to consider same-sex partnership bill

  • German minister warns against homophobia amid monkeypox outbreak

    German minister warns against homophobia amid monkeypox outbreak

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Log in