I didn't understand the AIDS epidemic until I listened to a podcast [1] where they interviewed a gay survivor. I can't imagine my friends dying off one by one around me from an unknown specter. The government pretending you didn't exist and ignoring you because it was a "gay problem". Society demonizing you. He said that even after it was understood that AIDS was not transmissible by touch, morgues would refuse to ac…
The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…
The Reagan administration banned needle exchanges:
https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/history-ban-f...
>, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males.
The continuing pathologization of homosexuals reduced their access to medical services, which prevented them from being educated about responsible sexual behavior. See e.g.:
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.82.9....
Overall the Reagan administration's response cannot be called prophylactic.