A Timeline of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
1981
A rare lung infection is found in five young, otherwise healthy gay men in Los Angeles. Men in New York City and California are diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of cancer called Kaposi’s Sarcoma.
By year's end, 121 men die of immune deficiency-related causes.
1982
Contact-tracing among men in Southern California suggests the cause of immune deficiency is sexual transmission, and the syndrome is dubbed "gay-related immune deficiency (GRID)."
The disease is reported in hemophiliacs who have undergone blood transfusions; the following year, blood banks warn of transmission.
The Centers for Disease Control uses the term AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) for the first time, and the definition highlights the syndrome's effect on otherwise healthy individuals.
When asked if President Ronald Reagan was tracking the spread of the disease, White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes jokes he doesn't AIDS. Press Corps members join in the laughter.
Novelist and activist Larry Kramer founds the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMCH) to raise funds for those battling HIV-related illnesses. He'll memorialize the work later in his play The Normal Heart.
1983
AIDS is reported among female partners of men who had the disease, suggesting it could be transmitted through heterosexual sex.
French doctors discover the Lymphadenopathy-associated retrovirus that could be the cause of AIDS.
The CDC identifies rules out transmission by casual contact, food, water, air, and surfaces.
The World Health Organization holds its first meeting about AIDS around the world.
Larry Kramer pens "1,112 and Counting" in the New York Native, his now-seminal cri-de-coeur about the epidemic. Among its most famous passages: 'And, for the first time in this epidemic, leading doctors and researchers are finally admitting they don’t know what’s going on. I find this terrifying too – as terrifying as the alarming rise in numbers. For the first time, doctors are saying out loud and up front, 'I don’t know.'”?
By year's end, 1,292 die.
1984
The National Cancer Institute confirms that French discovery of the source; a blood test is created. Researchers estimate a vaccine is two years away.
The CDC confirms that avoiding sharing needles for drug use prevents transmission.
Bath houses and private sex clubs in San Francisco are closed due to high-risk sexual activity.
In Amsterdam, the first needle exchange program is established.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is named Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he holds to this day.
By year's end, there are 3,665 total AIDS deaths in the USA.
The AIDS Show opens at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, composed of vignettes showing how various friends and families are impacted by HIV/AIDS.
1985
The Food and Drug Administration licenses the first commercial blood test.
President Reagan discusses the epidemic in public for the first time.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization host the first International AIDS Conference in Atlanta.
William Hoffman's As Is, the first commercially produced play about HIV, about friends and lovers reacting to the epidemic, opens in New York and wins the Drama Desk Award for Best Play.
Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, an autobiographical work about his attempts to mobilize the gay community against the epidemic, opens in New York.
Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues (Bebashi) is founded to provide street outreach in Philadelphia in response to HIV/AIDS in the African American community.
Ryan White, a fourteen-year-old from Indiana who acquired AIDS through contaminated blood products to treat his hemophilia, is banned from school. His visibility and advocacy over the next three years help to combat the disease's stigma.
Bath houses and private sex clubs in New York and Los Angeles are closed due to high-risk sexual activity.
Actor Rock Hudson dies – the highest profile victim of AIDS to date.
By year's end, there are 20,303 cases in the world.
The International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses announces the virus that causes AIDS will officially be called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
Activist Cleve Jones conceives a quilt to honor his deceased friend Harvey Milk; Jones invites those impacted by HIV/AIDS to add their stories. By the time the AIDS Quilt is displayed on the National Mall for the first time in 1987, it contained 1,920 squares, six feet by three feet each. It now has 48,000 panels.
1986
Outreach, Inc., is founded in Atlanta to serve black neighborhoods. It remains the oldest HIV/AIDS outreach organization in the south.
The National Coalition of Black Lesbians & Gays sponsors the National Conference on AIDS in the Black Community in Washington.
The CDC reports that that the incidence rate of HIV for blacks and Hispanics is three times as high as that of whites.
By year's end, there are 38,401 cases in the world, 82% of which are in the U.S.
1987
The FDA approves the first antiretroviral drug, zidovudine (AZT), as treatment for HIV.
By year's end, 71,751 cases of AIDS have been reported, 66% of which are in the U.S. The World Health Organization estimates up to 10 million people are living with HIV worldwide.
1988
The CDC reports that Black Americans make up one-half the cases reported by women.
The US changes immigration policy to ban people with HIV from entering the country.
The WHO declares December 1st as World AIDS Day.
1989
Max Robinson, the ABC newsman who was the first Black broadcast news anchor dies.
Sisterlove, one of the nation's first organization serving with HIV/AIDS, is founded in Atlanta.
"Longtime Companion" is released, the first film with wide theatrical release focusing on the epidemic.
Dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey dies.
Reported AIDS cases in the USA reach 100,000.
1990
Pernessa C. Seele founds The Balm in Gilead to develop HIV/AIDS related programming for black churches.
The FDA approves the use of AZT in children.
The U.S. enacts the Americans with Disabilities Act and includes those living with HIV as persons with disabilities who cannot be discriminated against.
Ryan White dies at age 18.
1991
The Visual AIDS Artists Caucus launches the Red Ribbon Project to create a symbol of compassion for people living with HIV.
Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive and retires from the NBA to educate young people about the virus. His announcement helps begin to dispel the stereotype of HIV as a “gay disease."
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury announces he has AIDS and dies a day later.
Before It Hits Home opens at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. West will receive the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for best original play.
Provisional data show that HIV has become the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. with 29,555 deaths in 1991 alone. The total number of deaths since the beginning of the epidemic approaches 80,000.
Additional cultural touchstones
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In 1993, Jonathan Demme's film "Philadelphia" is released. The same year, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches opens on Broadway.
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In 1994, Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika opens on Broadway.
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In 1996, RENT opens on Broadway.
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In 1998, Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion!, which follows eight gay men over three holiday weekends as they navigate love, friendship, and the epidemic, opens on Broadway. Though problematic for its depiction of a Latino character, the play is remarkable as it ends with the eight men skinny-dipping -- including one character whose body is marked by the advanced stages AIDS.
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Sources: Avert, hiv.gov, PBS, Playbill, New York Times
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