It is impossible to exaggerate the Reagan& #39;s indifference to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Because we cannot imagine a leader being as callous as the Reagans were, we invent a narrative when none exists.

The Reagans watched thousands of (mostly) gay men died and said and did nothing.
When the HIV/AIDS crisis was just beginning in the early 1980s, the Reagan administration declined to invest resources in it because they viewed it as a legal — not a medical — issue.

Why legal?

Because sodomy was illegal in most states. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/11/nancy-ronald-reagan-aids-crisis-first-lady-legacy">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
After Elizabeth Taylor& #39;s coworkers started dying, she started raising money for HIV/AIDS research.

She approached the Reagans for support.

They did nothing and contributed no money.

Taylor described their response as "frosty." http://www.vanityfair.com/news/1992/11/elizabeth-taylor-activism-aids">https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1992...
The Reagans& #39; reaction is unbelievable because of its depravity.

A famous moment is when Reagan& #39;s press secretary mocked gay men for getting sick during a 1982 press briefing.

1,000 people had already died. https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-aids">https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1...
Remember when Never Trump friends tell you they admire the Regans:

They are telling you they are either OK with or ignorant of mass death of LGBTQ people.

A mass death that was ignored, deflected, and mocked by Nancy Reagan.
The legacy of death the Reagan administration oversaw has imapcts today.

Part of why SF took the COVID-19 lockdowns so seriously and why our government sprung to action was because of our recent history with HIV/AIDS.

It is impossible to exaggerate its toll on our city.
There are so many legacies from the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

But one worth highlighting is shame caused by the Reagan& #39;s silence.

So many LGBTQ people died utterly alone, without their Reagan-supporting family.

They died alone knowing they would be buried in an unmarked grave.
It isn& #39;t just about politics.

You& #39;ve probably seen this way to ease COVID patients& #39; suffering.

HIV/AIDS patients never got that.

Outside of a few places, early HIV/AIDS patients mostly died utterly alone because doctors refused to come into their rooms. https://in.news.yahoo.com/hand-god-brazilian-nurses-gloves-100000071.html">https://in.news.yahoo.com/hand-god-...
The Reagans didn& #39;t cause the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

But their silence caused untold human suffering.

It breaks my heart to imagine all the young people dying scared and alone because Nancy and Ronald Reagan treated this plague like a joke.
So many people died alone and abandoned by their families that cities around the country have fields of unmarked graves.

New York City& #39;s is on Hart Island.

The dead were buried in plastic bags so they could not "contaminate" others. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/03/nyregion/hart-island-aids-new-york.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/0...
One of the few legislative acts related to HIV/AIDS undertaken by the Reagan administration was to ban HIV+ people from entering the United States in 1987. https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2006/12/the-hiv-travel-ban/232005/">https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dis...
Nancy and Ronald Reagan were silent.

Their silence caused death.

She is no hero and shame on anyone claiming she is.
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