Media coverage of the early years of the HIV epidemic contributed to the
high level of violence against the LGBT community in NSW in the 1980s,
an inquiry has heard. This week's public hearings are exploring the social,
legal and cultural factors affecting the LGBT community in the 40-year period.
Brent Mackie, peak LGBT group ACON's director of policy, strategy and
research, today gave evidence that the 1987 Grim Reaper advertising campaign
was designed to put HIV "on the agenda" but had a "particularly damaging"
effect on gay people.
Mackie said it "alienated" those with HIV because it didn't include information
about how HIV was transmitted, safe sex practices or what to do if you were
HIV positive. He said at the time it whipped up "hysteria" and resulted in many
people perceiving gay men themselves as Grim Reapers, while rhetoric in the
media and from some politicians also didn't help.
This graph tells a different story:
The most popular sexual act among men who have sex with men—anal sex—is
simply much more likely to spread HIV than heterosexual vaginal sex. So my
interpretation is
that HIV is predominately a male homosexual issue.
The physical assaults on gay men of course was/is totally unacceptable, but it's not
difficult to see why they were targetted, particularly going back 40 years when
society was far more intolerant of homosexuals.