Their London and their times - Gays and sex in 70s and 80s London
AIDS
As she sailed past her seventies and eighties into her nineties, granny must have incrementally grown accustomed to the idea that she is going to die soon-ish. Those around here have had to accept their mortality rather suddenly when they find the first lesion.
The first recorded UK death from an AIDS-related illness was in 1982. Terry Higgins, a DJ at the gay London nightclub Heaven, became one of the first people publicly recognized as dying from AIDS.
In response, his friends and partner founded the Terrence Higgins Trust in 1983 to provide education and support. The London Gay Switchboard became an urgent lifeline, fielding desperate calls from men who were terrified, sick, and had nowhere else to turn.
Homophobia was rampant in the mainstream press in the 1980s, with many newspapers routinely referring to HIV as the ‘gay plague’.
In April 1987, Princess Diana opened a dedicated HIV unit at Middlesex Hospital and publicly shook hands with an AIDS patient without wearing gloves, striking a massive blow against the era's stigma.
Despite initial hesitance from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, famously illustrated by her scribbled comments to her policy adviser David Willetts, the Department of Health eventually rolled out public information campaigns, including the iconic "AIDS: Don't Die of Ignorance" television leaflets and broadcasts.
