Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib made NFL history on Monday, becoming the first active player to announce he is gay.
Nassib made his announcement on Instagram, noting he “finally feel[s] comfortable getting it off my chest.”
“What’s up people, I’m at my house in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest. I really have the best life, the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for.”
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important.”
Nassib added he will be donating $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an organization working to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell applauded Nassib on Monday evening for “courageously sharing his truth.”
“The NFL family is proud of Carl courageously sharing his truth today,” Goodell said in a statement. “Representation matters. We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community.”
“We wish Carl the best of luck this coming season.”
“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” Collins wrote in Sports Illustrated. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.”
Nassib, 28, has played five NFL seasons, recording 20.5 sacks after being selected in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft. He added Monday he hopes announcements like his won’t be necessary in future years due to greater tolerance across sports.
“I actually hope one day videos like this and the whole coming out process just isn’t necessary.” Nassib said. “But until then I will do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting and compassionate.”
Las Vegas Raiders player Carl Nassib becomes the first active NFL player in history to come out as gay on Monday.
Driving the news: Nassib said he was coming out now because “representation and visibility are so important” and he will be donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention service for LGBTQ youth in the U.S.
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The NFL has “plenty of” members of the LGTBQ community, but the vast majority are closeted due to fear that their identity will negatively impact their career, former NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan told Reuters in 2019.
What he’s saying: “What’s up people,” Nassib posted on Instagram. “I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest.”
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important,” he said.
“I actually hope that one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary, but until then I will do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting and compassionate and I’m going to start by donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project.”
The big picture: Several former NFL players have come out as queer after retiring, according to Out Magazine.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s at least one on every team who is either gay or bisexual,” said O’Callaghan, who published a book in 2019 that detailed the mental distress of passing for straight in the NFL.
Former running back Dave Kopay was the first major professional athlete to come out in any sport in 1975, three years after his retirement. He later encountered obstacles to becoming a coach due to his sexuality, the University of Washington Magazine reports.
In 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, but he stepped away from football a year later for mental health reasons.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Carl Nassib, a football player from West Chester and former Penn State Nittany Lion, just made history becoming the first active NFL player to come out as gay. Nassib shared a coming out video on his Instagram page.
“I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest,” Nassib said.
“The NFL family is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today,” Goodell said. “Representation matters. We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community. We wish Carl the best of luck this coming season.”
As part of his coming out video, Nassib also announced he’s donating $100,000 to a group that helps LGBTQ youth with suicide prevention.
More than a dozen NFL players have come out as gay after their careers were over.
Former University of Missouri defensive star Michael Sam was the first openly gay football player ever selected in the NFL draft, going in the seventh round to the then-St. Louis Rams in 2014. But he never made the final roster and retired in 2015 having never played in an NFL regular-season game.
Nassib is a sixth-year pro who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2016 in the third round (65th overall) out of Penn State. He played two seasons for the Browns and two for Tampa Bay before joining the Raiders in 2020. He has 20 1/2 sacks in 73 career games.
On Monday, Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib became the first active N.F.L. player to publicly declare that he is gay.
“I just want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that like one day videos like this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary, but until then I’m going to do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting, that’s compassionate,” before adding that he would donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit group that focuses on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.
“Sadly, I have agonized over this moment for the last 15 years,” he wrote in the same post.
Nassib, a five-year N.F.L. veteran who previously played with the Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said he was finally “comfortable getting it off my chest.”
Nassib, 28, thanked his coaches, teammates and the N.F.L. for their support.
“I would not be able to do this without them,” he wrote in his Instagram post.
In a statement Monday, Commissioner Roger Goodell said he was “proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today. Representation matters.”
The Raiders quickly showed their support for Nassib’s announcement, writing “proud of you, Carl” in a post to the team’s Twitter account that also included his original statement. Two of his teammates, defensive lineman Darius Stills and edge rusher Maxx Crosby, voiced their support by commenting under Nassib’s post that they were proud of him. DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the N.F.L. Players Association also said in a Twitter post that he and the union supported Nassib.
Nassib’s announcement, made during Pride Month, is a significant turning point for the N.F.L., and makes him the first openly gay active player in the league’s 101-year history.
“Sports are, in many ways, one of the last bastions of a place where homophobia can thrive,” said Cathy Renna, a spokeswoman for the National L.G.B.T.Q. Task Force. “So to have a professional athlete of that caliber, particularly in one of the major sports leagues like the N.F.L., it really is historic.”
A bevy of current and former athletes from around sports reacted positively to Nassib’s announcement, including the retired tennis star Billie Jean King, who wrote, “the ability to live an authentic life is so important,” in a social media post Monday.
Sarah Kate Ellis, chief executive of the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization Glaad, called the announcement “a historic reflection of the growing state of L.G.B.T.Q. visibility and inclusion in the world of professional sports, which has been driven by a long list of brave L.G.B.T.Q. athletes who came before him.”
Sam’s draft status was seen as a barometer of whether the climate of men’s pro sports was becoming more accepting of gay athletes, particularly because in February 2014 the N.B.A. had just become the first of the four traditional major American men’s sports leagues to have an openly gay active player when Jason Collins joined the Nets.
But Sam left the N.F.L. without making an impact on the field.
Nassib, by contrast, has already played with three teams over five seasons and is under contract through 2022. After a collegiate career at Penn State, he was chosen by the Browns in the third round of the 2016 draft. He played two seasons in Cleveland before playing two more seasons in Tampa. The Raiders signed him to a three-year, $25 million contract in March 2020. He has tallied 20½ sacks during his career.
A handful of N.F.L. players had previously announced publicly that they were gay, but all after their playing careers were over. David Kopay became the first pro football player to publicly come out as gay in 1975, three years after he retired. He played for nine seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and four other teams in the 1960s and 1970s, and has since become an activist and an ambassador for the Gay Games, a quadrennial sporting event.
Roy Simmons was the second former player to announce that he was gay, doing so in 1992 after his career with the Giants and Washington Football Team had ended. He later disclosed he was H.I.V. positive and died from pneumonia-related complications in 2014 at age 57.
Some players like Simmons said they felt they had no choice but to hide their sexual identity while they were in the league. Simmons said he cultivated a reputation for being the life of the party, and had to compartmentalize his football life and his personal life.
Simmons also said he never would have declared himself gay during the four seasons he played for the N.F.L. for fear of destroying his career.
‘’The N.F.L. has a reputation,” he said in 2003, “and it’s not even a verbal thing — it’s just known. You are gladiators; you are male; you kick butt.”
In recent years, the league has publicly supported Pride Month through promotional efforts like changing official social media avatars to include rainbows and supporting the You Can Play Project, which provides resources to encourage inclusivity in youth sports, even as some players have made derogatory statements about gay people with little penalty or supported groups that oppose gay rights.
San Francisco running back Garrison Hearst apologized in 2002 for using a slur and saying he wouldn’t want a gay player as a teammate. His comment came after the former Minnesota Vikings player Esera Tuaolo publicly came out as gay that year after he had retired. Hearst’s comment elicited public apologies from the 49ers’ team owners and then-head coach Steve Mariucci, but no penalty from the league.
“Being an African American, I know that discrimination is wrong,” Hearst later said. “I was wrong for saying what I said about anybody, any race or any religion.”
The league had little to do with Sam’s announcement because it came before he was drafted. Former N.F.L. players like Brendon Ayanbadejo, who played with the Baltimore Ravens, defended same-sex marriage and gay rights and supported Sam at the time. But few active players publicly echoed his support.
Seven years after Sam’s announcement, Nassib’s announcement has been met with ready public support both from the league itself and the Raiders, a team that had previously made notable football milestones with its hires. Tom Flores, who is Mexican-American, was the first Latino coach in the N.F.L. and led the team to Super Bowl titles after the 1981 and 1983 seasons.
Amy Trask in 1997 became the Raiders’ chief executive and the first woman of that rank in the N.F.L. The team drafted Eldridge Dickey, the first Black quarterback taken in the first round, in 1968, when the Raiders played in the A.F.L.
“We hope that Carl’s historic representation in the N.F.L. will inspire young L.G.B.T.Q. athletes across the country to live their truth and pursue their dreams,” Amit Paley, the executive director and chief executive of the Trevor Project, said in a statement Monday.
Emmanuel Morgan and Jesus Jimenez contributed reporting.
“Here’s the truth: Everyone owes Michael Sam such a bit of gratitude,” Davis said. “Michael Sam did something that very few people do. They gave up something, which is potentially his entire career in the NFL, for something greater. Very few of us are willing to do that, and it’s why I hope that people, when they tell the story of Carl — which, he deserves his own singular story — but when you think about the ‘Carl and’ story, Michael Sam’s name should be mentioned first.”
Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out today, making him the NFL’s only openly gay player.
“I just want to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said in a video he posted on his verified Instagram account. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life. I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy could ask for. I’m a pretty private person, so I hope you guys know I’m not doing this for attention, but I think representation matters.”
Nassib also announced that he is donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that focuses on suicide prevention programs for LGBT youth.
No openly gay player has ever played in a regular-season NFL game. Michael Sam came out as gay before the 2014 NFL draft, was drafted by the Rams and played for them in the preseason, but he did not make a regular season roster. A handful of other players have come out after their playing careers ended.
The 28-year-old Nassib was a third-round draft pick of the Browns in 2016 who has also played for the Buccaneers. He was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year at Penn State in 2015.
The popular ratings site ranked businesses in the gay bar category based on the total volume and ratings of reviews between January 1, 2016 and April 28, 2021, and these 100 are the ones that came out on top.
The list includes the historic Stonewall Inn and plenty of watering holes in gay-friendly cities like San Francisco and Portland, but the list also includes two Louisville location.
#87: Chill BAR Highlands (1117 Bardstown Road)
The Chill BAR has been around since 2013, and more than one Yelp reviewer has said that it lives up to its name. Reviewers complimented the bartenders on their cocktail and bourbon knowledge. It also has a patio that’s too nice to say no to on a beautiful day. The Chill Bar also regularly hosts trivia and karaoke nights, and Ru Paul’s Drag Race watch parties.
The Stonewall Inn, considered the birthplace of the US gay rights movement, said it will not sell alcoholic drinks made by the Anheuser-Busch brewer during June 25-27’s NYC Pride weekend, due to corporate donations to conservative lawmakers.
New York City’s famed LGBT+ Stonewall Inn said it would pour Bud Light and Stella Artois beer down the drain this week to protest corporate donations by the brands’ owner to conservative lawmakers who have backed bills targeting transgender rights.
The Greenwich Village bar, considered the birthplace of the United States gay rights movement, said it would stop selling all alcoholic drinks made by the Anheuser-Busch brewer during June 25-27’s NYC Pride weekend.
According to data from Keep Your Pride, an LGBT+ campaign that monitors corporate donations, Anheuser-Busch has made 48 donations totaling $35,350 since 2015 to 29 lawmakers who have supported conservative bills on trans rights issues.
Anheuser-Busch, the US’s largest brewer and subsidiary of Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It has not previously commented publicly on the political donations reported by Keep Your Pride.
Stonewall Inn co-owner Stacy Lentz said the “pour out” protest would take place on Wednesday.
“You can’t turn your logo rainbow on social media, call yourself an ally, and then turn around and make donations that fuel hate,” Lentz said in a statement.
“There are really no excuses, and companies like Anheuser-Busch need to own up to what they’ve done,” she added.
More than 250 LGBT+-related bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year, with 18 signed into law, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT+ advocacy group.
The majority of the laws passed restrict trans children from competing in sports, while others ban medical care for trans youth and allow parents to opt their children out of LGBT+-related subjects in school.
Supporters of the laws have said they want to protect the rights of girls and women in school sports and prevent young people from taking medical decisions they might later regret.
By Susan Hornik | To celebrate 4/20, The Los Angeles Blade has a variety of cool items that happily provide calm and relaxation. If you are looking for a way to celebrate today in a blissful way, read on!
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Sleep duration can have a major effect on many health factors and chronic diseases, including heart disease – see study here.
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According to a new study from George Washington University, even mild homophobia can be enough to trigger changes in the body that may put some lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people at risk of long-term health issues like heart disease. The health issues may result from the increase in cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate triggered by exposure to prejudice and discrimination.
Exposure to prejudice
June is Pride Month, which gives sexual and gender minorities the chance to publicly celebrate their lives while bringing widespread exposure to the issues these communities face. The bold presence of symbols and discussions related to LGBT issues can also stir up similarly loud expressions of prejudice and discrimination from bigoted factions of society, exposing LGBT individuals to these negative opinions and, at times, threats.
Just in time to talk about this issue is the new study from George Washington University, which focused specifically on exposure to the discrimination and prejudice lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals may face. According to the findings, it only takes mild exposure to these issues to potentially trigger harmful physiological changes.
Discrimination and health
The study involved 134 adults who identified as LGB; they were tasked with partaking in an interview, which the researchers describe as a stressful activity. Ahead of the interview, the participants were given a paper with descriptions of the person who would be interviewing them, including that they were — for the purpose of the study — against same-sex marriage.
Participants who were in the control group weren’t exposed to this same anti-gay discrimination. All of the questions presented to the participants were pre-recorded and identical, requiring standard information from the participants. While all of the participants experienced a degree of stress response due to the nature of being interviewed, those who had been primed with exposure to anti-gay discrimination had a more severe response.
The consequences
Participants primed with discrimination experienced a greater increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels compard to the control group. As well, it took longer for their heart rate and blood pressure to return to normal after the interview. The findings underscore past research that has linked experiences of discrimination with poorer health outcomes.
The study is an important look into the matter, one the researchers say can be expanded upon with additional exploration. For example, this study primarily involved young white LGB individuals; future studies may explore the effects of discrimination on lesbian, gay, or bisexual people who are also part of an ethnic minority, as well as people in different age groups.
National HIV Testing Day was first observed on June 27, 1995. Since 1995, every year on this date health departments and other organizations unite in order to raise awareness about the importance of HIV testing and early diagnosis of HIV. The goal is to help encourage HIV testing on National HIV Testing Day, as well as every day, to ensure that people get tested, know their status, and get linked to prevention, care and treatment services.
Each year there is a theme for National HIV Testing Day. The 2021 theme is: “My Test, My Way.” This theme signifies the importance of getting tested even when a global pandemic is currently happening. “My Test, My Way” has created the opportunity for at home self-tests. There is currently one FDA approved rapid self-test, OraQuick. This test requires an individual to swab their gums to collect oral fluid. The provided kit allows the individual to have results within 20 minutes. If not comfortable doing it yourself, you can do a mail-in self-test, where you prick your finger and collect a small blood sample and mail it in.
The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 be tested for HIV at least once in their lives as part of routine health care; those at a higher risk of infection should be tested every year. Knowing your HIV status will provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to stay HIV free and protect yourself as well as your partner, or, in the case of a positive test, live a long healthy life with HIV.
HIV results can either be positive or negative. I
f you test positive for HIV you can receive treatment to stay healthy and reduce the chance of spreading HIV to your partner. If you test negative for HIV, there are still tools and information available for you to ensure that you continue to limit your risk of HIV. If pregnant, you should be tested for HIV so that you can begin treatment immediately if you are HIV positive. If an HIV positive individual is treated for HIV early in their pregnancy and gives HIV medicine to their baby 4-6 weeks after giving birth the risk of transmitting HIV to the baby is less than 1%.
In the United States, men who have sex with men are the population most affected by HIV. Among this population, African Americans are the racial group who are most affected by HIV. The CDC recommends that all sexually active gay and/or bisexual men consider getting tested for HIV every three to six months. Even if you are in a monogamous relationship (homosexual or heterosexual) it is still important for both you and your partner to know your HIV status.
For treatment, there are some prevention methods that you can access in case of exposure such as: pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP is an HIV prevention option for people who don’t have HIV but are at high risk of becoming infected with HIV. People on PrEP take a specific HIV medicine every day. However, PrEP should always be combined with other prevention methods, such as condoms. Types of PrEP prevention medications include Truvada and Descovy. Beaufort County Health Department does not provide PrEP medication, but we do provide referrals for PrEP or we recommend talking with your health-care provider so they can find the proper preventative strategies.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the use of HIV medicines that reduces the chance of getting infected by HIV after possible exposure to it. PEP may be used, for example, after a person who does not have HIV has sex with a person who has HIV. In order for PEP to be effective, the medicines must be started within three days after the possible exposure to HIV and taken for 28 consecutive days. PEP is used for cases of emergency only and should not be used regularly.
Knowing your HIV status is very important. The only way to know your HIV status is to get tested. The risk of not knowing your status is one too high to take. Protect yourself and your loved ones; we can be the generation to end the HIV epidemic.
Here at the Beaufort County Health Department, we offer free HIV testing in our clinic and a service called TIP (Testing is Power). TIP provides free testing in the community for HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C. If results are positive, we will help with follow-ups and referrals to local providers. Our goal is to create an environment where people in the community feel comfortable getting tested regardless of what their results may be. If you or someone you know would like to get tested or learn more about TIP and the services we provide at Beaufort County Health Department, please contact us at 252-946-1902. We are located at 1436 Highland Drive in Washington, and we are open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:00 pm.
Madison Creasman, an East Carolina University public health student, is currently interning at the Beaufort County Health Department.
By Karen Ocamb | LOS ANGELES – Like so many others in California, lesbian feminist Ivy Bottini had high expectations for the federal government to finally intervene in the growing AIDS crisis after the first congressional committee hearing on the mysterious new disease, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, (D-CA) on April 13, 1982.
There was very little press coverage of the hearing — held at the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. But years later, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health recalled a quote reported by the Washington Blade:
“I want to be especially blunt about the political aspects of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS),” Waxman said. “This horrible disease afflicts members of one of the nation’s most stigmatized and discriminated-against minorities….There is no doubt in my mind that if the same disease had appeared among Americans of Norwegian descent, or among tennis players, rather than among gay males, the responses of the government and the medical community would have been different.”
The gay San Francisco newspaper The Sentinel published a very short brief on April 16 entitled “House Holds Cancer Hearings” about “the gay cancer.” The paper quoted an unnamed subcommittee staffer saying the CDC, “which is coordinating research on the baffling outbreak, ‘should not have to nickel and dime’ for funds.” The brief appeared next to a column written by gay nurse Bobbi Campbell, who wrote about going to The Shanti Project to get emotional support for his KS.
Bottini’s take-away from the Waxman hearing was that no one really knew how AIDS was transmitted. She was upset. Her friend Ken Schnorr had died just before the hearing and Bottini had to explain to Ken’s distraught mother that he had not been abused at the hospital — the purple bruises on his body were KS lesions.
After weeks of governmental inaction, Bottini called Dr. Joel Weisman, Schnorr’s gay doctor, to update the community at a town hall in Fiesta Hall in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park. Weisman had sent gay patients to Dr. Michael Gottlieb and was one of the co-authors on the first CDC public report about AIDS on June 5, 1981.
Bottini later recalled how gay men often thanked her for saving their lives at that packed town hall. Bottini subsequently founded AIDS Network LA, to serve as a clearing house for collecting and disseminating information. But not everyone bought the science-based premise that AIDS was transmitted through bodily fluids — including Bottini’s friend Morris Kight, prompting a deep three-year rift.
Nonetheless, groups offering gay men advice on how to have safe sex started emerging, as did peer groups forming for emotional, spiritual and healthcare support. The Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, Houston’s Citizens for Human Equality and the new Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City published pamphlets and newsletters.
Panic and denial were wafting in tandem through gay Los Angeles, too. In Oct. 1982, friends Nancy Cole Sawaya (an ally), Matt Redman, Ervin Munro, and Max Drew convened an emergency informational meeting at the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center on Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease (GRID, soon to be called AIDS) delivered by a representative from San Francisco’s Kaposi’s Sarcoma Foundation.
“My friends and I were in New York in 1981, hearing stories among friends coming down with this mysterious disease. We realized that back home in L.A. there was no hotline, no medical care, and no one to turn to for emotional support,” Redman told The Advocate’s Chris Bull on July 17, 2001 for a story on the 20th anniversary of AIDS. “For some reason I wasn’t really scared. It was so early on that no one could predict what would happen.”
That quickly changed when the friends realized there was no level of governmental help forthcoming. They set up a hotline in a closet space at the Center, found 12 volunteers and asked Weisman to train them on how to answer questions, reading off a one-page fact sheet. The idea was to “reduce fear” and eventually give out referrals to doctors and others willing to help.
AIDS Project Los Angeles organizers (Photo courtesy of APLA)
The four also reached out to friends to raise money, netting $7,000 at a tony Christmas benefit to fund a new organization called AIDS Project Los Angeles. They set up a Board of Directors with Weisman and longtime checkbook activist attorney Diane Abbitt as Board co-chairs. They gaveled their first Board meeting to order on January 14, 1983 with five clients. The following month, APLA produced and distributed a brochure about AIDS in both English and Spanish.
Four months later, in May, APLA and other activists organized the first candlelight march in Los Angeles at the Federal Building in Westwood and in four other cities. The LA event was attended by more than 5,000 people demanding federal action. The KS/AIDS Foundation in San Francisco was led by people with AIDS carrying a banner that read “Fighting For Our Lives.” When the banner was unfurled at the National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference that June by activists presenting The Denver Principles, the crowd cried, with a 10-minute ovation.
Photograph Courtesy of APLA
“If the word ‘empowerment’ hadn’t yet been a part of the health care lexicon, it was about to be,” HIV/AIDS activist Mark S. King wrote in POZ. The group took turns reading a document to the conference they had just created themselves, during hours sitting in a hospitality suite of the hotel. It was their Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence rolled into one. It would be known as The Denver Principles, and it began like this:
‘We condemn attempts to label us as ’victims,’ which implies defeat, and we are only occasionally ’patients,’ which implies passivity, helplessness, and dependence upon the care of others. We are ’people with AIDS.’”
While The Denver Principles were injecting self-empowerment into the growing movement of people with AIDS, the Reagan administration was infecting America through mass media association of homosexuality, AIDS and old myths of sexual perversion. Ronald Reagan was keenly aware of his anti-gay evangelical base, appointing Gary Bauer as a domestic policy advisor. Bauer was a close associate of James Dobson, president of the powerful Religious Right group Focus on the Family.
Reagan also picked anti-abortion crusader C. Everett Koop as Surgeon General — which turned into a mini-scandal when Koop agreed that sexually explicit AIDS education and gay-positive materials should be federally funded for schools. “You cannot be an efficient health officer with integrity if you let other things get in the way of health messages,” Koop told the Village Voice. Koop was slammed by the Moral Majority’s Rev. Jerry Falwell and other anti-gay evangelicals.
But perhaps one most egregious examples of the Reagan administration’s homophobic callousness towards people with AIDS came from the persistent laughter emanating from the podium of White House Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes.
On Oct. 15, 1982, less than four weeks after Reps. Henry Waxman and Phillip Burton introduced a bill to allocate funds to the CDC for surveillance and the NIH for AIDS research, reporter Lester Kinsolving asked Speakes about the new disease called A.I.D.S..
Kinsolving: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement — the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
SPEAKES: What’s AIDS?
Kinsolving: Over a third of them have died. It’s known as “gay plague.” (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
SPEAKES: I don’t have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Kinsolving: You don’t have it. Well, I’m relieved to hear that, Larry. (Laughter.) I’m delighted.
SPEAKES: Do you?
Kinsolving: No, I don’t….In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
SPEAKES: No, I don’t know anything about it, Lester. What –
Kinsolving: Does the President, does anybody in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
SPEAKES: I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s been any –
Kinsolving: Nobody knows?
SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
The exchange goes on like that. For another two years. On World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2015, Vanity Fair debuted a 7:43 documentary directed and produced by Scott Calonico about that 1982 exchange between Kinsolving and Speakes. But Calonico also found audio of similar exchanges in 1983 and 1984 for his film, “When AIDS Was Funny.”
Karen Ocamb is the Director of Media Relations for Public Justice, a national nonprofit legal organization that advocates and litigates in the public interest.The former News Editor of the Los Angeles Blade, Ocamb is a longtime chronicler of the lives of the LGBTQ community in Southern California.
This is Part 4 of a series of 5 articles on AIDS @40.
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