Political Background to the AIDS Crisis
From my perspective the AIDS crisis emerged out of a time of Conservatism. Britain was just getting on it's feet after the war, there was labour unrest during the Heath years, and Maggie Thatcher would soon be Prime Minister. In the United States Ronald Reagan would soon be President and in Canada Prime Minister Mulroney would be in office. Yet despite the conservative political environment there was social change. The 60s brought a wave of youth rebellion which carried into the 70s. Although, homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967, police persecution did not stop until 1990. It was a time of free love, recreational drug use despite laws criminalizing drugs, and a sexual revolution from which gay liberation emerged. Britain didn't have a Stonewall like the US had but gay people across the country began to challenge the laws against homosexuality and homosexual acts. As gay people began to find social mores relaxing, bars and clubs opened up providing places for social gatherings. The community was first centered around the Earl's Court area but quickly spread into central London. By the late 80s, early 90s the clubs in London had decentralized and you could find gay pubs and clubs in almost any borough of the city. Manchester and Liverpool too, began to have their own thriving gay scene. A kind of sex tourism was possible. Gay men began to find their sexual freedom in the 70s and by the 80s men were having as much sex with as many partners as they could possibly manage. AIDS came on to the scene in the mid to late 70s. The disease was mainly ignored by the mainstream and so it was allowed to spread unchecked until about 1985 when the government finally reacted. By that time thousands had died in Britain and millions had died around the world. (This is my perspective. I have not verified exact dates).
