HIV/AIDS history through the pages of Out Front

In March 1983, a long two-part story speculated that repeated interaction with venereal diseases, antibiotics and lifestyle issues contributed to AIDS rather than a single pathogen. Other pieces offered advice on immune health: Meditation, stress relief, healthy eating and supplements were suddenly frequent topics in print in hopes that those strategies could prevent AIDS.  In April, a physician’s advice noted that the incubation period between infection and AIDS symptoms may be “as long as two years” – the figure is now known to be more than nine years. Health experts were recommending that gay men reduce their numbers of sexual partners to reduce risk, but still did not know for sure that the pathogen that causes AIDS could be transmitted in a single event.

As if AIDS itself wasn’t enough to be fearful about, another crisis emerged: A series of gay bashings in Denver, especially Cheesman Park and Washington Park, along with others in Seattle and other U.S. cities appeared in Out Front’s pages as the mainstream media and general public became gripped in AIDS paranoia. Right-wing politicians and leading Evangelicals suggested the disease was God’s punishment for the homosexual lifestyle, and Out Front ran repeated reports that the epidemic was being used as cause to discriminate against LGBT people. Federal, state and municipal authorities began talks of putting AIDS patients under involuntary quarantine.

In April, 27, 1984, Out Front reported a CDC announcement that a virus that causes AIDS had finally been discovered. The next issue on May 11 explained “What it means:” That the then-named “Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus” or HLT-III was “the single most important breakthrough in understanding the disease.” What it did was allow researchers to track, much more accurately, who was being infected or could potentially develop AIDS, and learn about what spread it. At the time, experts were still recommending that gay men reduce their number of sexual partners but not putting an emphasis on condoms. The same article reported that there had been 41 AIDS cases in Colorado, and 17 deaths.

On August 3, Out Front ran a harrowing column about “Getting ready for the test.” the soon-to-come, dreaded blood test for the newly-discovered virus, due to be available to the public by the end of the year. The test would create a new kind of identity in the LGBT community: Positive.

In October 1984, Out Front mentioned dramatic cultural changes in the gay scene: Many gay men were putting an emphasis on monogamy, and 30 percent reported having had no sex partners at all in the last 3 months. It was part of a story about bathhouses in San Francisco, which had been shut down by the government. 67 AIDS cases and 42 deaths had been reported in Colorado.

Subsequent developments re-framed AIDS from a “Gay Disease” to a worldwide epidemic. Out Front reported that two straight men had been found to be infected with the virus through sex with women, while a nurse had been infected by a needle stick injury. Later it was discovered that the infection was also occurring in Europe and Africa.

On July, 18, 1986, Out Front reported the end of the first chapter in the AIDS crisis. A conference in Paris had resolved international disputes about what the new-found virus should be called, with a single, universal name: HIV. In October, Out Frontreported one possible sign of hope: A drug originally developed to treat cancer – AZT – was being explored as a way to manage HIV infection.