Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has issued an apology for comments she made praising former President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan’s legacy on AIDS at former the First Lady’s funeral on Friday.
Speaking to MSNBC during the televised broadcast of the funeral, Clinton said that the Reagans “started a national conversation” about the AIDS epidemic when “nobody would talk about it.”
“It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s,” Clinton said. “…When before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it, and that too is something that I really appreciate with her very effective, low key advocacy but it penetrated the public conscious and people began to say, ‘Hey, we have to do something about this too.'”
Clinton’s comments were shocking to many within and close to the LGBT community, as the Reagans are often blamed for ignoring or making light of the severity of the AIDS crisis. Last year, on World AIDS Day, Vanity Fair debuted a short documentary, When AIDS Was Funny that included audio of Reagan’s press secretary, Larry Speakes, laughing off a question from a journalist asking about the White House’s response to AIDS. And BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner reported that Nancy Reagan even turned down a plea from her friend, actor Rock Hudson, who was suffering from the disease, to help get him transferred to another hospital that could better treat him.
Immediately, the former Secretary of State’s critics pounced on her comments, with the Huffington Post’s JamesMichael Nichols characterizing them as “polarizing, inaccurate — not to mention offensive.” Gawker’s Sam Biddle accused Clinton of “revisionism” on the history of the AIDS crisis, calling the comments “shocking, insulting and utterly inexplicable.” Prominent LGBT and AIDS activist Cleve Jones took to Facebook, writing: “Hillary Clinton is praising Ronald and Nancy Reagan for ‘starting a national conversation’ about HIV/AIDS. Utter bullshit. Disgusting. Really, just stop it.”
Even allies of the Democratic frontrunner criticized the comments, with Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — which has endorsed Clinton for president — took to Twitter, writing: “While I respect her advocacy on issues like stem cell & Parkinson’s research, Nancy Reagan was, sadly, no hero in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
While I respect her advocacy on issues like stem cell & Parkinson's research, Nancy Reagan was, sadly, no hero in the fight against HIV/AIDS
Within hours, Clinton’s campaign issued an apology, as well as a statement elaborating on and clarifying her past record on HIV/AIDS. The campaign also took to Twitter, writing: “While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I’m sorry.”
Hillary Clinton’s statement on her comments about the Reagans' record on HIV and AIDS: pic.twitter.com/RtIs0zpJfk
The United States is now seeing over 200,000 syphilis cases annually, the highest figure since the 1950s.
Imagine the voice of Golden Girls’ Sophia Petrillo saying, “Picture it, United States 1951, I Love Lucy was kicking off its first season, super glue had just been invented, and there were 140,000 syphilis cases reported across the country.”
By 2000, however, decades of public health advocacy and medical advancements, such as the use of antibiotics in early treatment, had cut down cases to just 32,000 per year.
So, what happened? Why are the numbers worse now than they were 24 years ago?
Maybe not exactly like Thirty, a feature loosely assembled from episodes of the eponymous VOD series created by Dontá Morrison and co-written with director Anthony Bawn. But films that likewise feature a gay Black couple as the center of the story, or of a circle of friends, come few and far between.
Undeniably the stories are out there, as is the audience, yet, as one Thirty character laments of the media landscape, "white boys get all the airtime."
Thirty lends its air time to the epic trials and tribulations of longtime couple Khalil (Bobby Musique Cooks), a Hollywood stylist, and Tyrin (Brandon Moten), an ad agency owner, and their young and restless friends, most of whom are Black and queer.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has issued an apology for comments she made praising former President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan’s legacy on AIDS at former the First Lady’s funeral on Friday.
Speaking to MSNBC during the televised broadcast of the funeral, Clinton said that the Reagans “started a national conversation” about the AIDS epidemic when “nobody would talk about it.”
“It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s,” Clinton said. “…When before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it, and that too is something that I really appreciate with her very effective, low key advocacy but it penetrated the public conscious and people began to say, ‘Hey, we have to do something about this too.'”
Clinton’s comments were shocking to many within and close to the LGBT community, as the Reagans are often blamed for ignoring or making light of the severity of the AIDS crisis. Last year, on World AIDS Day, Vanity Fair debuted a short documentary, When AIDS Was Funny that included audio of Reagan’s press secretary, Larry Speakes, laughing off a question from a journalist asking about the White House’s response to AIDS. And BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner reported that Nancy Reagan even turned down a plea from her friend, actor Rock Hudson, who was suffering from the disease, to help get him transferred to another hospital that could better treat him.
Immediately, the former Secretary of State’s critics pounced on her comments, with the Huffington Post’s JamesMichael Nichols characterizing them as “polarizing, inaccurate — not to mention offensive.” Gawker’s Sam Biddle accused Clinton of “revisionism” on the history of the AIDS crisis, calling the comments “shocking, insulting and utterly inexplicable.” Prominent LGBT and AIDS activist Cleve Jones took to Facebook, writing: “Hillary Clinton is praising Ronald and Nancy Reagan for ‘starting a national conversation’ about HIV/AIDS. Utter bullshit. Disgusting. Really, just stop it.”
Even allies of the Democratic frontrunner criticized the comments, with Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — which has endorsed Clinton for president — took to Twitter, writing: “While I respect her advocacy on issues like stem cell & Parkinson’s research, Nancy Reagan was, sadly, no hero in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
Within hours, Clinton’s campaign issued an apology, as well as a statement elaborating on and clarifying her past record on HIV/AIDS. The campaign also took to Twitter, writing: “While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I’m sorry.”