AIDS Policy Into the 1990s

A grim metaphor heard at the First International AIDS Conference in Atlanta in 1985 was that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was "a nightmare from which one can never awaken." It was actually two nightmares, in parallel: the syndromes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and their attendant suffering and mortality, and a second epidemic of fear and discrimination. The power of those fears to disrupt lives was most vividly demonstrated by the experience of a family with three hemophiliac children. When the parents voluntarily disclosed the HIV antibody status of their sons, they were barred from the local public school and their church, socially ostracized, and finally driven from town when their home was burned (New York Times. August 31, 1987:1). Similar instances of violence and hatred perpetuated by irrational fears have been experienced by homosexual men, drug users, and others affected or perceived to be at risk. For