The AIDS Crisis - Tumblr Posts

The NYC AIDS Memorial website says that by the end of 2000, 448,060 people had died in the US of AIDS. Not in New York City. Not only gay men. Not during the 1980s. More context on the original post here.

I get the sentiment. It’s important to remember those who died due to national inaction. But comparing numbers of deaths in tragedies isn’t the only way to show respect for the dead or outrage for their mistreatment, and we can still be careful to share true things in service of justice goals.

Getting this right matters because the gay men and other people who died of AIDS matter, and their deaths deserve to be contextualized correctly as we remember the atrocious tragedy of the AIDS crisis. It matters because I’m seeing people reblog these numbers as a way of shutting out trans and bi people from the LGBTQIA community, as if those people did not also die of AIDS. It matters because opponents of gay rights can jump on things like this to undermine the entire argument. It matters because truth matters--more than winning a point.

During the 1980s, more gay men died in New York City during the AIDS crisis than all recorded deaths of American soldiers in Vietnam. You need to know that.