@Oldfartrant @CanadianCrone @dougiec3 @soc_i_ety @GottaLaff
In the 1980s people living with #HIV / #AIDS faced being put in camps to die. Millions of #California votes in favour of a measure. Other places, laws were passed restricting people's movement, involuntary inpatient treatment, mandatory disclosures and identification.
Not laws mandating sex-education, health care, government-covered HAART or AZT.
This is what I hear when I hear "…colonies to keep the rest of us safe."
@amgine @CanadianCrone @dougiec3 @soc_i_ety @GottaLaff
I contracted HIV in the 1980s. Some people were calling for those things but no one took them seriously. No one knew what was causing the illness. The only thing they managed to do was ban poppers, amyl nitrate. So butyl nitrate was used instead. The ban was silly and completely ineffective. But people refusing to vaccinate against all airborne viruses makes them a public health threat to everyone.
This very strongly disagrees with my memories of the time. Even Minnesota was panic-passing laws criminalizing HIV. It may be my view was skewed by being actively involved in the politics of the time, and every article about the viruses (known from '83) seemed intended to stir up the vigilantes.
I remember a campaign in '86, trying to prevent the new HIV blood test from being allocated to the police instead of clinics. I am cynical about it now, but at the time I was scared.
Excellent to hear! I know a few #nurses who worked in the #AIDS wards in #Vancouver. Elsie Tan at #UBC SoN for example.
#Canada seems to have had a more realistic approach, though I was not here at the time. Some parts of the USA, where I was, were less so. TX built a camp; iirc by the time it was ready there was a backlash, and it is currently being used to house undocumented immigrants.
HIV status is less-criminalized there than it was.
Wokebloke for Democracy
Canadian Crone
Doug 🌈🇨🇦 
Amgine