For those who were adults during HIV panic

I was scared stiff

Kept myself away from dem hoes.

I was in the middle of being savagely gang raped in a SF bathhouse by the members of The Village People and I had to stop. It was devastating. Much worse than this.

fun fricking almost stopped. No more bareback ride for a long time. Mostly the gays were dying unless you got a bad batch of blood then you also died.

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I know it was nothing like this but what was it like?

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Testing the blood supply was a big deal. Alot of people got HIV through blood transfusions until the FDA decided to force blood suppliers to start testing. I had to have major back surgery in 1985. I had to go a few weeks before the surgery and give my own blood so they could use for the surgery.

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We need a Corona concert.

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Come for the music, leave with corona.

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Teryaki and classic hot sauce.

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The message was boiled down to (1) this was NOT just a "homosexual" disease and (2) that if you were a straight person who had sex with someone who wasn't your spouse, you were somewhere in the range of 90%-99% likely to contract HIV.

Fast forward 35 years later and we have commercials for HIV prevention medicine almost exclusively being marketed to the stereotypical people most at risk for getting HIV: Homosexual men, black people and transgenders.

I would only try and deflower virgins....but I was a 17 year in 1984-85