AIDS Crisis

The AIDS Crisis refers to the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the disease killed thousands with little effective treatment and slow government response. The first U.S. cases were reported by the CDC in June 1981. Gay and bisexual men, transgender people, injection drug users, and communities of color were hit hardest and often abandoned by public health institutions and political leaders. Out of this loss came some of the most influential organizing in LGBTQ+ history, including the direct-action group ACT UP and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Their activism reshaped drug approval, patient advocacy, and civil rights, and its legacy still shapes public health today.