Aiding Gays: How the Gaying of AIDS Affected Response, Treatment, and Research During the Early Years of the Epidemic in San Francisco

Author

Abigail Smithberg Margolis, Bard CollegeFollow

Date of Submission

Spring 2015

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Sociology; Environmental and Urban Studies

Project Advisor 1

Mark Lytle

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

I will look at the contrasting responses of members of the gay community and hostile conservative politicians to homosexuals and people with AIDS in the United States, especially in San Francisco. In the first chapter, I will discuss the development of gay life in the city, from World War II until the assassination of Harvey Milk. This path will lead to the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic struck San Francisco. In the second chapter, I will follow the discovery of a new disease among gay men, and the initial response of physicians and patients. In the third and final chapter, I will present the debate on funding for educational materials between the gay community and anti-gay politicians, which reveals the hostility and stigmatization of gays and people with AIDS.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Margolis, Abigail Smithberg, "Aiding Gays: How the Gaying of AIDS Affected Response, Treatment, and Research During the Early Years of the Epidemic in San Francisco" (2015). Senior Projects Spring 2015. 279.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2015/279