1987: 41,027 persons are dead and 71,176 persons diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S.
After years of negligent silence, President Ronald Reagan finally uses the word “AIDS” in public.
He sided with his Education Secretary William Bennett and other conservatives who said the Government should not provide sex education information. (They are still saying it!)
On April 2, 1987, Reagan said: “How that information is used must be up to schools and parents, not government. But let’s be honest with ourselves, AIDS information can not be what some call ‘value neutral.’ After all, when it comes to preventing AIDS, don’t medicine and morality teach the same lessons.”
Today would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday.
The American ultra right and Christian conservatives, along with nearly all of the GOP are singing his praises, and in the case of the politico’s, either trying to emulate the “Gipper” or at least live in the long shadow of his career and life’s accomplishments.
I’m not, and not just because I’m Canadian.
No, I think that Reagan was despicable on numerous social issues that have left a legacy of hatred, disdain, and hypocrisy on anyone who was not lily white, christian, and upper middle class to wealthy. In particular, nearly everyday as I hear more vilification being heaped on the LGBTQ community, I deem that the true legacy of Ronald Reagan.
Frankly? I have zero sympathy for the suffering he endured at the end of his life with Alzheimer’s disease as I see that as “biblical” amends for the suffering he caused towards tens of thousands of his fellow Americans who suffered from AIDS — most dying — and the legacy he left that allows so-called christian organizations like Focus On The Family, Family Research Council, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, and the American Family Association, to name a few, who parade never ending streams of hate towards gay persons and hold Reagan up as their shining example of a good and decent American president.
In a word? Bullshit. As events proved last fall in this country with American teens taking their lives, words from these Reaganesque organizations are deadly. I’ll even take that one step further — it spread overseas to Uganda where hate of gay and lesbians is codified, and thanks to American Evangelicals, led to the death of LGBTQ equality rights activist David Kato.
Let’s review shall we?
LGBT Rights
No civil rights legislation for LGBT individuals passed during Reagan’s tenure. On the 1980 campaign trail, he spoke of the gay civil rights movement:
“My criticism is that [the gay movement] isn’t just asking for civil rights; it’s asking for recognition and acceptance of an alternative lifestyle which I do not believe society can condone, nor can I.”
Civil Rights
Reagan opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Reagan gave a States’ Rights speech at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964, when running for president in 1980 (many politicians had spoken at that annual Fair, however). Reagan was offended that some accused him of racism.
In 1980 Reagan said the Voting Rights Act was “humiliating to the South”, although he later supported extending the Act.
He opposed Fair Housing legislation in California (the Rumford Fair Housing Act), but in 1988 signed a law expanding the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Reagan was unsuccessful in trying to veto another civil rights bill in March of the same year.
At first Reagan opposed the Martin Luther King holiday, and signed it only after an overwhelming veto-proof majority (338 to 90 in the House of Representatives and 78 to 22 in the Senate) voted in favor of it.
Congress overrode Reagan’s veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988. Reagan said the Restoration Act would impose too many regulations on churches, the private sector and state and local governments.
Response to AIDS
Perhaps the greatest criticism surrounds Reagan’s silence about the AIDS epidemic spreading in the 1980s. Although AIDS was first identified in 1981, Reagan did not mention it publicly for several more years, notably during a press conference in 1985 and several speeches in 1987. During the press conference in 1985, Reagan expressed skepticism in allowing children with AIDS to continue in school, stating:
It is true that some medical sources had said that [HIV] cannot be communicated in any way other than the ones we already know and which would not involve a child being in the school. And yet medicine has not come forth unequivocally and said, ‘This we know for a fact, that it is safe.’ And until they do, I think we just have to do the best we can with this problem.
The CDC had previously issued a report stating that “casual person-to-person contact as would occur among schoolchildren appears to pose no risk.” During his 1987 speeches Reagan supported modest educational funding on AIDS, increased AIDS testing for marriage licenses and mandatory testing for high risk groups.
Even with the death from AIDS of his friend Rock Hudson, Reagan was widely criticized[citation needed] for not supporting more active measures to contain the spread of AIDS. Until celebrity Elizabeth Taylor spoke out publicly about the monumental amount of people quickly dying from this new disease, most public officials and celebrities were too afraid of dealing with this subject.
Possibly in deference to the views of the powerful religious right,[citation needed] which saw AIDS as a disease limited to the gay male community and spread by “immoral” behavior, Reagan prevented his Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, from speaking out about the epidemic.
When, in 1986, Reagan was highly encouraged by many other public officials to authorize Koop to issue a report on the epidemic, he expected it to be in line with conservative policies; instead, Koop’s Surgeon General’s Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome greatly emphasized the importance of a comprehensive AIDS education strategy, including widespread distribution of condoms, and rejected mandatory testing. This approach brought Koop into conflict with other administration officials such as Education Secretary William Bennett.
Social action groups such as ACT UP worked to raise awareness of the AIDS problem. Because of ACT UP, in 1987, Reagan responded by appointing the Watkins Commission on AIDS, which was succeeded by a permanent advisory council.
The Failure to Act: The Reagan Administration’s Deliberate Failure to Address the Aids Epidemic — watch:
Filed under: Views & Voices
It’ll always THEM and US!!!
It’ll always THEM and US!!!
I don’t feel like hatin’ on Reagan. Too much energy has been spent on hating on Obama for the past two years . I just feel like for today one name has been switched out for another. Whateves, you know.
I don’t feel like hatin’ on Reagan. Too much energy has been spent on hating on Obama for the past two years . I just feel like for today one name has been switched out for another. Whateves, you know.
A founder of the far right lives on through his idiotic preachings. Oh joy.
Micheal Steele once said, “The Republican Party needs to look to the future. What would Ronald Reagan do at a time like this?”
Thanks Nisa…and I also have a share on FB bookmark but most article postings on FB like ‘Pride In Utah’ have a share button right next to the post.
He was good with some things but his ignorance with homophobia and the aids crisis good ole liz taylor set him and nancy right
actually, gay hate has been going on in many places in africa since way before reagan. don’t give credit where it isn’t due.
As nice of s guy and as “meant well” the trickle down effect and leaving world with a legacy of ignoring AIDS etc etc I do not understand…only Republicans and super rich got richer and everyone is twisting history and blaming Clinton for things such as De Regulating etc…it is hysterical… And really he was whst kind of hero? Jimmy could not control Mt. St. Helen’s or Iran hostages…..Uughh!!!! Peanuts he never denied!!
Deanna gay hate has nothing to do with AIDS in Africa dumb ass most r not gay it is virus affecting everybody mostly straight. They do not have health care or prevention. It has to do with Reagan Choosing to ignore AIDS crisis and not allowing education as most powerful man in world at thst time who had power to do somthing and chose not too!
Vilified? Regan’s corpse should be dug up and every American who isn’t a Republican with buckets full of money because Regan’s trickle down economics never worked nor will it ever should be allowed to kick the shit out of it. Regan left a legacy all right. A legacy that cost Americans a two or more party system, he enlarged corporate loopholes that cost hard working Americans billions, his Cold War obessions bloated the defense budget and convinced the American people that it was “ok”.
Any politician that tries to emmulate Reagan’s policies whether it’s his lack of belief in a fair and just civil rights for everyone or any other for that matter should be strung up and beaten until candy comes out of his insides.
Fuck Reagan and fuck every Republican and Democrat trying to be just like him. He was by far the worst president America ever had if only because so many think he was so great.
BTw Deanna gay hate has nothing to do with AIDS in Africa or anywhere dumb ass. AS most powerful man in world at thst time Ronal chose to do nothing and suppress information about AIDS..most people in Africa are not gay they r poor uneducated do not habe access to helath care or prevention and catholic church does not allow contraceptives even if it stops death or disease.. Wake up Stupid fuck! Sick of these ignorant people. He was no hero! He was a nice guy but stupid or somthing evil.
Well said Anne!
He should be put in the death chamber even if he doesn’t remember shit!!!!!
Wow Thomas, what is with the unnecessary harshness?? People on this blog need to chill the hell out.
How about this, guys? Instead of celebrating or demonizing everyone in the past, and trying to lay blame for everything that’s fucked in our society, how about we focus on the here and now. The past cannot be changed, but what we do this very moment will shape our future. Focus your energy on positive forward thinking instead of spewing hate at the past, and I guarantee you, you’ll lead a far happier and more productive life. And who knows? If we’re focusing on positivity and change, perhaps we’ll actually get some!
I agree with you, Jenna. Reagan is dead, and while it’s important to learn about how his lack of action caused our current problems, it’s a waste of energy demonizing and criticizing him now. We need to worry about working for our civil rights and holding the politicians accountable.
The important thing is, however, to not glorify the past and to learn from it. We can agree that Reagan was a horrible president and an even worse human being, and therefore when people seek to praise him and his works we should argue the point that he helped take and slow the progress of the liberties of countless minorities.
We do need to focus on here and now, but we should do that by remembering the past and the damages it has caused the present.
Acknowledgement does not have to spawn animosity.
Reagan committed TREASON by selling arms to the Iranians, an avowed enemy of ours, in direct violation of a Congressional and United Nations ban on such sales. He BROKE THE LAW! And this was just 7 years after the Iranians held 100 Americans hostage for 18 months. This would be like George Bush selling weapons to Al Quaida 7 years after 9/11. NUTS! George Bush Sr. had to PARDON the Reagan officals involved in this to prevent them from being convicted and sent to jail. What could be worse than a President selling weapons to our enemies? According to the NEOCONS, a BJ is alot worse!
AND HE SAID IT 52 TIMES!. Reagan committed perjury during his UNDER OATH court deposition during the investigation in the Iran/Contra crime. 52 times he replied to questions with “I don’t know” or “I don’t recall”, in an arrogant and defiant refusal to answer properly to avoid prosecution. He had no problem remembering what to say on TV, but once in court he suddenly couldn’t recall anything. He had a lot to LIE about.
This Conservative fantasy that Reagan was a great President is a joke! It’s already agreed he was “out of it” during his second term with Altzheimers. His tax cut policies of Supply Side “trickle down” economics have been disavowed for 20 years now by David Stockman, the Budget Director Reagan assigned to write them, stating they never worked and ruined the economy. George Bush Sr even called it “voodoo economics.” And the Savings And Loans Bank BILLION DOLLAR TAXPAYER BAILOUT was a direct result of his Administrations “hands off” approach to oversight and regulation of that industry. And history repeated itself with the Wall Street collapse in 2008 when George Bush did the exact same thing. And the deficit TRIPLED during his 8 years while all the time blasting wasteful spending.
The only thing Reagan excelled at, since he was an actor, was giving high hopes, inspiring, patriotic speeches just like in the movies. He was no intellectual giant either, admitting to an interviewer in the 1950′s that he got mostly “C’s” in school. And this myth that he brought down the Soviet Union because of increased Defense Spending is rediculous. Hey we out spent the Viet Cong too and they didn’t collapse. We’re outspending Al Quaida and The Taliban and after 10 years they haven’t collapsed either. Reagan was NO WHERE NEAR a great President.
Reagan was literally guilty of genocide against gay and bisexual men. He was a heinous criminal who should have died in a prison hospital.
Why is it OK to criticize the small scale murderers, but not the large scale murderers like Reagan?
Telling LGBT people to forget Reagan’s crimes is like telling Jewish people to forget the Holocaust. You should be ashamed of yourself.
You can thank Ronald Reagan for believing in and defending your right to free speech that you use to bash him. If it was not for him, we could possibly be living in a communist country where you would have no right to free speech. P.S. You may get more support from mainstream America if you stopped being so hateful. It is fine to disagree with people, but you need to learn to do so in a more respectful manner. God Bless You!