Let us not forget that at the height of the
Aids panic, virtually every African was suspected of being a carrier and was shunned.
In the 1980s,
AIDS panic spread through the country--both in the halls of medicine and the halls of justice.
But the victories felt small, especially in the shadow of the
AIDS panic, which cast gay men as afflicted, not funny.
As in the great
AIDS panic, the introduction of the Ebola infection into the American populace has resulted in confusion, speculation, and hysteria.
"Is the Rectum a Grave?" appeared in 1987, when the homophobia caused by
AIDS panic had reached its height.
As Silversides documents, Michael's initial response to the
AIDS panic was rooted in his political formation as a gay liberationist which led him to be extremely critical of both the medical profession, which had previously been very involved in labelling queers as sick, and also of the mainstream media framing of gay men.
If they read our story and realized who he was, they might also identify the young lady, possibly starting an AIDS panic and perhaps doing serious damage to her reputation.
Although very well read, there was no AIDS panic. Sean--to our knowledge--was never identified and we never heard from the young lady.
This
AIDS panic brings to mind an occurrence best known in the aviation industry: the near miss.
With
AIDS panic and the "Just say no" (to sex, to drugs, to rebellion) movement spreading so alarmingly, it's an act of political resistance to insist publicly on the right to be gay.
In the novel, Claire is acting on what she regards, at least in her own mind, as the child's best interests, although clearly she's suffering from some form of delayed
AIDS panic. The novel A Home at the End of the World, which was published in 1990 and so reflects the full horrors of the pandemic, is concerned not only with
AIDS panic but with homophobia as well.