| Subject: Reagan |
Author:
Perry
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Date Posted: Tuesday, June 08, 05:18:23pm
David McDonald, queer officer of the Student Union, wrote this in today's Age:
"What about Ronald Reagan's steadfast refusal, until 1987, to acknowledge AIDS -- first detected by medical scientists in 1981?
If there was one defining issue of his presidency, then I believe it was in treatment of AIDS. Let's talk about all those people who died on account of his desire to see AIDS as God's wrath, and have it run its due course.
You can bet your bottom dollar that I won't be signing any condolence books in his honour. Instead, I'd like to ask where all the condolence books are for the tens of thousands of Americans who died of AIDS-related illnesses as a result of Reagan’s atrocious inaction."
These views are common among the gay left and are embodied in the recent TV movie "The Reagans".
But what did Reagan actually do? Every Reagan budget from 1982 onwards involved spending on HIV research, resources increasing by 450% in 1983, 134% in 1984, 99% in 1985 and 148% in 1986. In total, Reagan's administration spent some $5.7 billion on HIV. Doesn't look like "atrocious inaction" or a desire to have AIDS "run its due course" to me.
What did Reagan actually say? In September 1985 (not 1987), Reagan noted the "half a billion dollars that we have provided for research on AIDS ... So, this is a top priority with us." In his 1986 (not 1987) State of the Union Address, Reagan used the word AIDS five times in a single passage. Seems like Reagan's "steadfast refusal, until 1987, to acknowledge AIDS" wasn’t quite so steadfast.
What did Reagan actually think about gays and lesbians? In 1978, he opposed a California voters' initiative designed to prevent gays and lesbians from teaching in schools. He said: "Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual's sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child's teachers do not really influence this." The proposition was defeated. Later Reagan became the first president to allow an openly gay couple to sleep over at the White House. Looks like Reagan was happy to leave gays and lesbians alone to live their private lives in private.
These facts might be inconvenient for people like David McDonald. But if he believes it is his job to comment in a public newspaper as my representative, he doesn’t have the luxury to ignore them.
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