Editing Human sexuality (section)

=== Stigma and activism during the AIDS epidemic ===
In 1981, doctors diagnosed the first reported cases of [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] in America. The disease disproportionately affected and continues to affect gay and bisexual men, especially black and Latino men.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/the-hivaids-epidemic-in-the-united-states-the-basics/ |title=The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States: The Basics |website=The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref> The Reagan administration is criticized for its apathy towards the AIDS epidemic, and audio recordings reveal that Ronald Reagan's press secretary Larry Speakes viewed the epidemic as a joke, mocking AIDS by calling it the "gay plague".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-aids|title=The Reagan administration's unbelievable response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic|last=Lopez|first=German|date=1 December 2015|website=Vox|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref> The epidemic also carried stigma coming from religious influences. For example, Cardinal Krol voiced that AIDS was "an act of vengeance against the sin of homosexuality", which clarifies the specific meaning behind the pope's mention of "the moral source of AIDS."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=POIRIER|first=RICHARD|date=1988|title=AIDS and Traditions of Homophobia|journal=Social Research|volume=55|issue=3|pages=461–475|issn=0037-783X|jstor=40970515}}</ref>

[[HIV/AIDS activism|Activism]] during the AIDS crisis focused on promoting safe sex practices to raise awareness that the disease could be prevented. The "Safe Sex is Hot Sex" campaign, for example, aimed to promote the use of condoms.<ref name="Geiling">{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/|title=The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic|last=Geiling|first=Natasha|website=Smithsonian|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref> Campaigns by the U.S. government, however, diverged from advocacy of safe sex. In 1987, Congress even denied federal funding from awareness campaigns that "[promoted] or [encouraged], directly or indirectly, homosexual activities".<ref name="Geiling"/> Instead, campaigns by the government primarily relied on scare tactics in order to instill fear in men who had sex with other men.<ref name="Geiling"/>

In addition to prevention campaigns, activists also sought to counteract narratives that led to the "social death" for people living with AIDS.<ref name="Wright 1788–1798">{{Cite journal|last=Wright|first=Joe|date=15 August 2013|title=Only Your Calamity: The Beginnings of Activism by and for People With AIDS|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=103|issue=10|pages=1788–1798|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2013.301381|issn=0090-0036|pmc=3780739|pmid=23948013}}</ref> [[Gay men]] from San Francisco and New York City created the Denver Principles, a foundational document that demanded the rights, agency, and dignity of people living with AIDS.<ref name="Wright 1788–1798"/>

In his article "Emergence of Gay Identity and Gay Social Movements in Developing Countries", Matthew Roberts discusses how international AIDS prevention campaigns created opportunities for gay men to interact with other openly gay men from other countries.<ref name="Roberts 243–264">{{Cite journal|last=Roberts|first=Matthew W.|date=April 1995|title=Emergence of Gay Identity and Gay Social Movements in Developing Countries: The AIDS Crisis as Catalyst|journal=Alternatives: Global, Local, Political|volume=20|issue=2|pages=243–264|doi=10.1177/030437549502000205|s2cid=140772471|issn=0304-3754}}</ref> These interactions allowed western gay "culture" to be introduced to gay men in countries where homosexuality wasn't an important identifier. Thus, group organizers self-identified as gay more and more, creating the basis for further development of gay consciousness in different countries.<ref name="Roberts 243–264"/>