“Homosexuals And Retribution,” by Patrick J. Buchanan, The New York Post, May 24
“Homosexuals And Retribution,” by Patrick J. Buchanan, The New York Post, May 24, 1983. @nypost. On May 24, 1983, thirty-three years ago today, the New York Post published an op-ed by conservative columnist Pat Buchanan, in which the author declared, “The sexual revolution has begun to devour its children. And among the revolutionary vanguard, the Gay Rights activists, the mortality rate is highest and climbing.” From there, Buchanan provided talking points that would haunt LGBT- and AIDS/HIV-activists for decades, adding fuel to the fire of AIDS hysteria at a particularly sensitive moment. For example, Buchanan noted that “it is known that the virus can be passed via semen and saliva…[and this] is a danger not only to homosexuals but to the public at large.” Buchanan, citing “data” from one conservative “medical researcher,” recommended, among other things, that “no male homosexual should ever be blood donors [sic],” and “practicing male homosexuals don’t belong in the food handling business.” In conclusion, Buchanan wrote: “The poor homosexuals; they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution.” In June 2015, days after the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional, Buchanan doubled down: “Three decades ago, this columnist was denounced for writing that homosexuals ‘have declared war on human nature. And nature is exacting an awful retribution.’ Hateful speech, it was said. Yet, when I wrote that line, AIDS victims numbered in the hundreds. Worldwide today they number in the millions. And there is a pandemic of STDs among America’s young who have joined the sexual revolution preached in the 1960s. Can true 'social progress’ produce results like that?” #lgbthistory #lgbtherstory #lgbttheirstory #lgbtpride #queerhistorymatters #haveprideinhistory -- source link
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