The lesbian heroes of the 80s AIDS Crisis
Back in 1981, the world was hit by the first reported cases of HIV and AIDS. Rampant misinformation on how the virus was transmitted created a hostile environment at the time for all patients, but especially gay and bisexual men, who were marked as the face of the disease. This left them increasingly vulnerable to the widespread homophobia of the period, and lacking in sources of support as they dealt with the effects of HIV/AIDS both personally and as a demographic.
But these men were not totally abandoned. Lesbians of the period were quick to organize with each other in order to support and defend their gay comrades, as well as others who had contracted the virus.
Blood Sisters: Lesbians answering the call for blood
In 1983, the San Diego Blood Sisters was founded by the San Diego Democratic Club (SDDC). The group’s goal was to organize blood drives to provide blood for gay men and other persons with AIDS that were in desperate need of blood transfusion. At the time, more than half of the SDDC’s male leadership had succumbed to AIDS, with two to three men falling per week to the disease.
For their first blood drive, organized by SDDC members Wendy Sue Biegeleisen, Nicolette Ibarra, and Barbara Vick, they expected only 50 people to attend, especially since gay men had been barred from donating blood because of the possibility of AIDS virus contamination. Instead, they found themselves with an attendance of nearly 200 lesbians ready to give their blood to their ailing brothers, resulting in at least 130 donations. The Blood Sisters would continue to organize regular blood drives for the next four years, which led to the birth of similar blood drives across the US.
Why the L comes first
At the time, the acronym GLBT had been popularised for the community. One of the reasons that this was changed into the now known LGBT+ acronym is to honor the lesbians who rose up amidst mass stigma to sustain their community with their blood. Their actions represented the binding solidarity across the spectrum of identities embraced by the label.
In addition to the blood donations, lesbians also took on the roles of primary caretakers to the people, sitting at their bedsides and providing care and comfort when actual health practitioners of the time hesitated to go near and even enter the rooms of gay AIDS patients.
Their presence and work challenged the apathy of a time wherein the government itself was criticized for abandoning the gay community, with former President Ronald Reagan not even speaking about the crisis publicly until 1987. Through them, patients were able to regain a sense of dignity and loss to the dehumanization they faced for their identities and condition.
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