Since 1988, World AIDS Day—which is observed December 1 of each year—has been a time to reflect upon the people who have been affected by the pandemic and bring attention to the need for a cure. We have come a long way since we became aware of AIDS and its effects in the eighties—in terms of both medical treatments and societal attitudes—but there is still a long way to go.
Today’s quotes are about the AIDS pandemic and the attitudes that people have held over the years. Some of the quotes are good, some are bad, and some are really ugly.
1. “AIDS can destroy a family if you let it, but luckily for my sister and me, Mom taught us to keep going. Don't give up, be proud of who you are, and never feel sorry for yourself.”
–Ryan White
2. “AIDS is a judgment we have brought upon ourselves.”
–Mary Whitehouse
3. “AIDS is an absolutely tragic disease. The argument about AIDS being some kind of divine retribution is crap.”
–Calvin Klein
4. “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”
–Jerry Falwell
5. “AIDS obliges people to think of sex as having, possibly, the direst consequences: suicide. Or murder.”
–Susan Sontag
6. “I burned out on AIDS and did no AIDS work for a couple of years. I was so angry that people were still getting this disease that nobody can give you—you have to go out and get it!”
–Harvey Fierstein
7. “I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss.”
–Pat Robertson
8. “I'm grateful for doing those drugs, because they kept me from getting laid and I would have gotten AIDS.”
–Steve Tyler
9. “If Carter had been there when the AIDS crisis came up, it would have been a whole different story. It could have been treated like a legitimate disease.”
–Jean O'Leary
10. “I dunno how much AIDS scares y'all, but I got a theory: The day they come out with a cure for AIDS, a guaranteed one-shot cure, on that day there's gonna be f***ing in the streets, man.”
–Bill Hicks
11. “We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House—make no mistake about it.”
–George W. Bush
12. “I don't think President Bush is doing anything at all about AIDS. In fact, I'm not sure he even knows how to spell AIDS.”
–Elizabeth Taylor
13. “It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance.”
–Elizabeth Taylor
14. “From the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the AIDS problem has already been solved. After all, we already have a drug which can be sold at the incredible price of $8,000 an annual dose, and which has the added virtue of not diminishing the market by actually curing anyone.”
–Barbara Ehrenreich
15. “The Pope has swept through Africa, where 5 million people are already infected with the AIDS virus, and which expects by the end of the century to have 10 million orphans whose parents have died of AIDS—and told them not to use condoms.”
–Brenda Maddox
16. “We've had too many World AIDS Days.”
–Richard Gere
17. “If hooking a car battery up to a monkey's brain will help find the cure for AIDS and save somebody's life, I have two things to say...the red is positive and the black is negative.”
–Nick Dipaolo
18. “Wouldn't it be great if you could only get AIDS by giving money to television preachers?”
–Elayne Boosler
19. “It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read.”
–Newt Gingrich
20. “The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt.”
–Dennis Miller
For more quotes about AIDS, log on to BrainyQuote.com and thinkexist.com.
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