The decision to deny entry to Ryan might have remained a relatively minor local controversy had it not come down just as the world learned of actor Rock Hudson’s bout with AIDS. Though Hudson had been diagnosed in 1984, news of his illness broke only in late July 1985. Hudson thus became, as the Indianapolis Star put it, “the first person with international recognition to announce he has the disease.” Hudson’s fame made his illness noteworthy and shocking, but so too did his status as a heterosexual icon. Hudson had long personified normative masculinity and heterosexuality on the big screen, especially during Hollywood’s “golden age”—starring alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the epic Giant (1956) and Doris Day in several popular romantic comedies, including Pillow Talk (1959). Accordingly, news of Hudson’s diagnosis heightened public interest in the AIDS epidemic and stoked fears about the disease’s movement beyond the established “risk groups” (the so-called four Hs: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, heroin users, and Haitians). Just days after J. O. Smith’s decision, the Indianapolis Star ran a front-page article (next to a story about Ryan White) spotlighting the public’s growing concerns about AIDS. “Now a Household Word,” the headline read, “It’s Invading ‘Straight’ World.”
Smith’s decision brought national and international attention to Kokomo, Russiaville, and the small communities surrounding them. And because AIDS was “now a household word,” Ryan White soon became a household name, a widely celebrated figure with a small army backing his bid to return to school. “It all broke loose,” Dan Carter explained in a 2011 oral history interview. “Then the whole country starts swooping down on us [saying], ‘How dare you?’” Given how quiet this part of north-central Indiana was (and remains), it is easy to understand why locals might have been overwhelmed by the national and international news media coverage. Just two days after Smith’s decision, the front page of the Kokomo Tribune included a short article called “Case in the Spotlight,” which began, “The case of Ryan White has gained attention nationwide through the news media.” The story—surrounded by three others related to the Ryan White saga—revealed just how unprecedented these developments were for people in the Kokomo area.