Music Banter - View Single Post

Ayn Marx · 06-18-2022, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

You must be a part of the generation that got decimated in the 80s and 90s. I'm quite fascinated by how people managed to dodge that bullet considering how wild those times apparently were with the nascent gay liberation.

I grew up being terrified of STDs and HIV. I had nightmares about catching HIV even before I became sexually active. One of the reasons I'm monogamous is also because I don't want to fuck around with that, despite all the medications available. I suppose only a cure for AIDS would bring us back to those "care free" times. Not sure that will happen in my lifetime.

There are some good books about that era before the advent of HIV when people weren't afraid of sex and were living out their fantasies to the fullest (Hollinghurst in particular with The Swimming Pool Library, although some also criticize his choice to completely ignore the ongoing pandemic).

We sure weren’t afraid of sex but police entrapment and gay bashing were a constant threat. Still are in many parts of the world.

As to how I dodged the bullet, I was lucky. An ex lover was working in the US laboratory that discovered AID’s, then known as gay cancer by some. He phoned me and warned it was sexually transmitted. I took to wearing condoms which triggered some nasty reactions from other fairies but hey, I’m still alive when the majority of my gay friends soon died, often in a very horrifying ways. Working as a care team member and later an area supervisor for the AIDS COUNCIL. I witnessed the worst and best of our kind. The real surprise were the many upper class church ladies who were up to their elbows in volunteer nursing without ever using that position to evangelise. I’ll stop here as I tend to ramble on and on when I start recalling those times.