LogFAQs > #956651427

Criminalt posted...

It took a while for the mechanism of transmission to be properly understood, there was a lot of confusion and misinformation, and even by the middle of the decade there still remained uncertainty and fear about whether or not it was even safe to shake hands with someone who's gay. Gay men were treated as likely carriers of a deadly disease simply on account of their sexual preference, because their sexual preference was deemed to be their "lifestyle". It was as much about perceptions of the disease and of those whom it affected as it was about its health impact.

Ah. I will admit I didn't think of it like that at all. I suppose the saying "hindsight is 20-20" is appropriate here but if I do sit and think about it I suppose I had heard things about the paranoia people had. While I wasn't alive to see that play out for myself I've seen plenty of examples of how irrational fear that can twist people here in this era so it checks out.