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Most states still outlawed same-gender sex in the 1980s. Many Americans, deeply offended by homosexuality, objected to any acceptance of it. Some of them considered it a sin, and believed AIDS was a suitable punishment.

In the film Philadelphia, gay lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), is fired from his conservative law firm because he has AIDS.  Beckett sues his former employer with the help of Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a homophobic lawyer.  Miller overcomes…

Still controversial, needle exchange programs designed to reduce the use of HIV-contaminated needles began appearing around 1985. This street-art plaque connects the needles used by addicts to homelessness and poverty.

Over time, the international implications of the epidemic became clear. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 33 million people around the world are living with the virus; 22.5 million are in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite all we…

Set in Manhattan and on Fire Island, the film Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of AIDS in 1981.  As the story progresses, the disease devastates the characters’ lives, touching each one in a…

The Brig was a gay bar located in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, MD.  The bar and bathhouse culture within the gay community was criticized by many both within and outside the community.  It was seen by some as an unintended venue to spread HIV…

POZ magazine serves a specific consumer group—people who are HIV positive.

Jay Levy is a physician, professor, and cancer researcher in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). His lab was one of the first three groups (along with Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Institut…

Once scientists established blood transmission of HIV, monitoring blood supplies became critical. Hemophilia patients required frequent transfusions, increasing their risk of infection.