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Ryan White

The True Story of an Indiana Teen Barred From School Over His AIDS Diagnosis

Ryan White changed perceptions of the disease in the United States.
by Paul M. Renfro via Teen Vogue on April 8, 2025

Queer Activists and the Struggle for AIDS Education

Queer resistance to state-sponsored oppression campaigns, from Reagan to Trump.
by Lucy Kelly via History Workshop on March 6, 2025
Ryan White in school.

The Tragedy of Ryan White

How politicians used the story of one young patient to neglect the AIDS crisis.
by Scott Wasserman Stern via The New Republic on November 29, 2024
A photograph of the massive AIDS memorial quilt with the Washington Monument in the background.

“I Am the Face of AIDS”

Ryan White helped challenge existing understandings of the AIDS epidemic. But his story also reinforced arbitrary divisions between the guilty and the innocent.
by Paul M. Renfro via Public Books on October 22, 2024
Man smoking marijuana among cannabis plants.

The Unlikely SF Community That Launched America's Weed Industry

Without the local San Francisco activists who risked their lives for it, today’s legal cannabis market might never have come to be.
by Lester Black via SFGATE on June 27, 2024
Grave marker for "Special Case - Baby 1."

The Search for Special Case–Baby 1

Who was buried in the lonely grave in New York’s potter’s field? The year-long search led to a lost world in the history of AIDS.
by Lizzy Ratner via The Nation on March 12, 2024
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop holds a news conference on May 4, 1988, on AIDS.

As AIDS Epidemic Raged, a Rogue Reagan Official Taught America the Truth

The Reagan administration thought Surgeon General C. Everett Koop would put his faith above public health. Instead, Koop sent all Americans a mailer on AIDS.
by Alexandra M. Lord via Retropolis on June 4, 2023
On August 8, 2022, activists protest the lack of monkeypox vaccine and treatment access outside the San Francisco Federal Building.

What the AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Monkeypox

Harm reduction strategies, like those pioneered by queer men of color, have the best chance of stopping this disease.
by Joshua Gutterman Tranen via Boston Review on October 3, 2022
A man is lying on his side in a hospital bed; Mesha Irizarry sits beside him, a hand on his shoulder.

Deconstructing HIV and AIDS on "Designing Women"

Shows from "Mr. Belvedere" to "Grace Under Fire" fought ignorance and prejudice with more care and passion than many who had been elected to public office
by Nels Highberg via Nursing Clio on September 29, 2022
Profile outlines of four people standing in line.

Every New Disease Triggers a Search for Someone to Blame

Focusing on a virus’s origins encourages individualized shame while ignoring the broader societal factors that contribute to a disease’s transmission.
by Steven Thrasher via The Atlantic on July 31, 2022
Close up image of a Catholic leader raising his hand.

The Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church

Amid all the suffering and death, friends and supporters arose in unexpected—often religious—places.
by Eric C. Miller, Michael J. O'Loughlin via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on January 18, 2022
Boy doing schoolwork at a classroom desk.

This Teen’s AIDS Diagnosis Changed History

Ryan White’s story both reinforced and challenged assumptions about the disease.
by Paul M. Renfro via Teen Vogue on December 6, 2021
Collage: a pair of arms wraps around collections of newspapers reporting on AIDS and plays guitar strings.

An AIDS Activist's Archive

June Holmes was in her late twenties, working as a social worker on Long Island, when she first heard about “this thing called AIDS.”
by Scott Wasserman Stern via New York Review of Books on October 29, 2021
Pillow and blanket on hospital bed

How the Bush Administration Did More For AIDS in Africa Than At Home

Emily Bass on foreign aid and America's response to long-standing pandemics.
by Emily Bass via Literary Hub on July 8, 2021
ACT UP protesters take part in an act of civil disobedience near the West Steps of the U.S. Capitol in 2004.
partner

AIDS Disappeared From Public View Without Ending. Will Covid-19 Do the Same?

By thinking of diseases just as medical problems, we allow them to fester in poor communities.
by Dan Royles via Made By History on June 29, 2021
Nancy Reagan standing behind a railing.

Nancy Reagan’s Real Role in the AIDS Crisis

The former first lady fought the conservative Reagan administration in an attempt to get her husband to pay more attention to the deadly pandemic.
by Karen Tumulty via The Atlantic on April 12, 2021
Louise Hay

Another Hayride

Self-help guru Louise Hay’s “Hayrides” drew in thousands during the hopelessness and government neglect of the AIDS crisis.
by Matt Wolf via New York Times Op-Docs on January 16, 2021
Artwork that says "Bury me fiercely" and features imagery of a face mask and cross

You Are Witness to a Crime

In ACT UP, belonging was not conferred by blood. Care was offered when you joined others on the street with the intent to bring the AIDS crisis to an end.
by Debra Levine via The Baffler on January 5, 2021
Photo of Halston, Bianca Jagger, Jack Haley, Jr., Liza Minnelli and Andy Warhol at a New Years Eve party at Studio 54

How Fashion Was Forever Changed by “The Gay Plague”

An oral history with 25 fashion luminaries, highlighting a previously untold history of the AIDS crisis.
by Phillip Picardi via Vogue on December 16, 2020
A doctor treating an AIDS patient
partner

What the Bungled Response to HIV Can Teach Us About Dealing With Covid-19

Politics, public health and a pandemic. What we didn’t learn from HIV.
by Clyde Haberman via Retro Report on July 1, 2020

The Cure and the Disease

Social Darwinism from AIDS to Covid-19.
by Erik Baker via The Drift on June 19, 2020

I Survived Prison During The AIDS Epidemic. Here’s What It Taught Me About Coronavirus

COVID-19 isn’t an automatic death sentence, but the fear, vilification and isolation are the same.
by Richard Rivera via The Marshall Project on May 14, 2020
People mourning AIDS victims at a vigil.
partner

Coronavirus Is Different from AIDS

People comparing covid-19 and AIDS may obscure more than they clarify.
by Paul M. Renfro via Made By History on April 6, 2020

Love One Another or Die

During the AIDS crisis, different contingents of the LGBTQ movement set aside their differences to prioritize mutual care.
by Amy Hoffman via Boston Review on April 2, 2020
People marching with an "Aidswalk 19" banner

The LGBTQ Health Clinic That Faced a Dark Truth About the AIDS Crisis

America has rarely treated all people with HIV equally.
by Abdallah Fayyad via The Atlantic on July 22, 2019
Still from the Golden Girls.

Deconstructing HIV and AIDS on The Golden Girls

In 1990, one of America's most beloved sitcoms took on the HIV epidemic with humor and sensitivity.
by Claire Sewell via Nursing Clio on December 4, 2018

Instagram's Aids Memorial: ‘History Does Not Record Itself’

The Instagram feed where friends and family post tributes to loved ones who died of Aids-related illnesses has become an extraordinary compendium of lost lives.
by Kate Kellaway via The Guardian on November 4, 2018

The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic

A new exhibit looks at the posters sent out by non-profits and the government in response to the spread of AIDS.
by Natasha Geiling via Smithsonian on December 4, 2013
An eraser erasing a drawing of man.

R.F.K., Jr., Anthony Fauci, and the Revolt Against Expertise

It used to be progressives who distrusted the experts. What happened?
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Yorker on May 19, 2025
Keith Haring spray painting

Keith Haring, the Boy Who Cried Art

Was he a brilliant painter or a brilliant brand?
by Jackson Arn via The New Yorker on March 4, 2024
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