Gay life in Chicago this week, back in...
1985
A headline in the Chicago Tribune reads: "THE AIDS EPIDEMIC: NOT FOR GAYS ONLY." Bob Greene writes:
"There's no need for everyone to spend all of this time worrying about the arms race and racial strife and crime on the nation's streets. We're all going to die of AIDS anyway.
"That's not some black-humor attempt to be cute. Every time I hear more news about the AIDS epidemic things seem to be getting worse--and every time I read what the experts have to say about AIDS, one thing becomes clear: Those of us who thought that the disease would always limit itself to homosexuals and other high-risk groups were fooling ourselves in the most pathetic way.
"When reports of AIDS first began to appear in the news media, many of us were silently relieved that it seemed to be a disease that afflicted only homosexuals and members of other, narrowly defined groups. That's an awful thing to say; one should never feel relief at a fatal disease targeting in on any group of people, regardless of the fact that it seems to spare us. But because those early reports indicated that if you weren't homosexual, then you were safe, many of us didn't overly concern ourselves with the new epidemic.
"Now, as reports of developments in the AIDS story continue to surface, it appears that matters are far more grave than anyone had previously imagined -- and suddenly the non-homosexual population is beginning to realize that it had better be concerned about this disease. The latest bad news came last Sunday, in a story by Tribune science writer Ron Kotulak.
"Kotulak reported that the AIDS epidemic 'appears to be growing out of control,' and that some health experts predict that there may be more than 200,000 new cases by the end of 1988. (Of people who have been diagnosed two years ago or longer as having AIDS, most have died.)"
1995
AIDS activist Sean Strub, publisher and executive editor of POZ magazine, is the guest speaker at the grand opening of Spectrum, the Midwest's first completely integrated treatment center for persons with HIV/AIDS, located at 1300 W. Belmont.
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