From AIDS crisis to COVID-19: Why the queer community must defend public health, Dr. Fauci
Sat. August 1, 2026 7:43 PM by Gerald Farinas
dr. anthony fauci
photo credit // wikimedia commons
News column by Gerald Farinas. Opinions are not necessarily those of GoPride.com.
CHICAGO, ILL. -
I’ve been trying to make sense of the spectacle unfolding on Capitol Hill, and it is infuriating. Watching elected officials turn a Senate hearing room into a circus is bad enough. Watching them drag Dr. Anthony Fauci into that room just to spit in the face of public service and basic sanity is downright sickening.
For the LGBTQ community, this political circus hits with a unique and painful weight. We know Dr. Fauci’s history better than most. During the darkest, most terrifying years of the AIDS crisis, when mainstream politicians ignored our dying friends and systemic bigotry blocked life-saving research, Dr. Fauci eventually listened. When activists shut down government offices to demand access to experimental drugs, he did not lock the door. He invited them inside, brought community leaders to the table, and reshaped how clinical trials were conducted in the United States. His willingness to work directly with LGBTQ advocates helped build the scientific foundation that transformed HIV/AIDS from a terrifying death sentence into a manageable, preventable condition today.
Yet, in the warped reality created by politicians looking for cheap viral moments, this same public servant gets painted as a literal monster.
Consider the sheer absurdity of what was said in those Senate hearings. Members of Congress actually compared Dr. Fauci to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Pause and consider that. They compared an infectious disease expert to bloodthirsty dictators responsible for the mass murder of tens of millions of human beings. It isn't just a complete breakdown of basic history. It’s a grotesque insult to the victims of actual genocide, blurted out just to score cheap points on television.
This hits especially close to home for me because I was right in the thick of things during the COVID-19 pandemic. I served as a director in the second nursing home in Illinois to report cases of the virus. Back then, members of the public lashed out and blamed my executive director and our leadership team, claiming we allowed the virus into the building through poor care. That was flat-out wrong, and it hurt on so many levels. I was right on the front lines, helping shut down visitors and isolating residents to keep the virus from spreading, doing everything humanly possible to safeguard a vulnerable population that, year in and year out, already faces the highest death rates from the routine flu.
Knowing what it felt like to fight tooth and nail to save lives while being unfairly scapegoated makes watching Dr. Fauci’s experience all the more agonizing.
What makes this character assassination so crazy is the sheer hypocrisy of the arguments. The folks attacking him can’t even keep their story straight for two minutes. First, they tell us COVID-19 was a total hoax, just an overblown cold, a non-issue invented by shadowy elites to steal our freedom. In the exact same breath, they turn around and accuse Dr. Fauci of being a mastermind who unleashed a deadly virus that killed millions. Which one is it? Is the virus a harmless lie or a killer disease? Is Dr. Fauci a fraud who panicked over nothing, or is he a mass murderer controlling world events?
It can’t be both. Logic was never the point anyway. The point is to give people a scapegoat for their anger, fear, and burnout.
Queer people know all too well what happens when public health crisis response gets weaponized for political theater. We saw it in the 1980s when fear of a virus was used to demonize our community, and we are seeing it again now as opportunistic politicians use public health officials as punchlines to fuel culture wars.
When you strip away the political theater and the loudmouthed outrage, what’s left is a terrifying warning sent to every scientist, doctor, and public servant in America. If you step up during a crisis, if you share tough truths as new facts come in, you’ll be dragged. You’ll get death threats, and you’ll be paraded in front of cameras so politicians can trade your hard-earned reputation for likes and retweets.
We used to respect people who dedicated their lives to serving the public and listening to marginalized communities. Now, we watch as lifetime public servants get thrown under the bus for cheap political drama. It’s foolish, it’s dangerous, and our community should be leading the charge to call it out.
For the LGBTQ community, this political circus hits with a unique and painful weight. We know Dr. Fauci’s history better than most. During the darkest, most terrifying years of the AIDS crisis, when mainstream politicians ignored our dying friends and systemic bigotry blocked life-saving research, Dr. Fauci eventually listened. When activists shut down government offices to demand access to experimental drugs, he did not lock the door. He invited them inside, brought community leaders to the table, and reshaped how clinical trials were conducted in the United States. His willingness to work directly with LGBTQ advocates helped build the scientific foundation that transformed HIV/AIDS from a terrifying death sentence into a manageable, preventable condition today.
Yet, in the warped reality created by politicians looking for cheap viral moments, this same public servant gets painted as a literal monster.
Consider the sheer absurdity of what was said in those Senate hearings. Members of Congress actually compared Dr. Fauci to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Pause and consider that. They compared an infectious disease expert to bloodthirsty dictators responsible for the mass murder of tens of millions of human beings. It isn't just a complete breakdown of basic history. It’s a grotesque insult to the victims of actual genocide, blurted out just to score cheap points on television.
This hits especially close to home for me because I was right in the thick of things during the COVID-19 pandemic. I served as a director in the second nursing home in Illinois to report cases of the virus. Back then, members of the public lashed out and blamed my executive director and our leadership team, claiming we allowed the virus into the building through poor care. That was flat-out wrong, and it hurt on so many levels. I was right on the front lines, helping shut down visitors and isolating residents to keep the virus from spreading, doing everything humanly possible to safeguard a vulnerable population that, year in and year out, already faces the highest death rates from the routine flu.
Knowing what it felt like to fight tooth and nail to save lives while being unfairly scapegoated makes watching Dr. Fauci’s experience all the more agonizing.
What makes this character assassination so crazy is the sheer hypocrisy of the arguments. The folks attacking him can’t even keep their story straight for two minutes. First, they tell us COVID-19 was a total hoax, just an overblown cold, a non-issue invented by shadowy elites to steal our freedom. In the exact same breath, they turn around and accuse Dr. Fauci of being a mastermind who unleashed a deadly virus that killed millions. Which one is it? Is the virus a harmless lie or a killer disease? Is Dr. Fauci a fraud who panicked over nothing, or is he a mass murderer controlling world events?
It can’t be both. Logic was never the point anyway. The point is to give people a scapegoat for their anger, fear, and burnout.
Queer people know all too well what happens when public health crisis response gets weaponized for political theater. We saw it in the 1980s when fear of a virus was used to demonize our community, and we are seeing it again now as opportunistic politicians use public health officials as punchlines to fuel culture wars.
When you strip away the political theater and the loudmouthed outrage, what’s left is a terrifying warning sent to every scientist, doctor, and public servant in America. If you step up during a crisis, if you share tough truths as new facts come in, you’ll be dragged. You’ll get death threats, and you’ll be paraded in front of cameras so politicians can trade your hard-earned reputation for likes and retweets.
We used to respect people who dedicated their lives to serving the public and listening to marginalized communities. Now, we watch as lifetime public servants get thrown under the bus for cheap political drama. It’s foolish, it’s dangerous, and our community should be leading the charge to call it out.