ACT UP New York
“Stop Gay-Bashing at the Board of Ed!” flyer
New York, 1992
Manuscripts and Archives Division
“Stop Gay-Bashing at the Board of Ed!” flyer
The outbreak of HIV/AIDS, which doctors treating gay men in New York City and San Francisco first noticed in 1981, grew quickly into an epidemic on a national, and ultimately global, scale. The crisis of the illness itself was compounded by other, related crises: discrimination, queerphobia, and misinformation that made it harder to develop treatments, find care, support people living with the disease, and prevent further spread. The ongoing lack of mainstream sympathy for the groups most affected by AIDS, coupled with conservative officials’ hostility to sex education, led to notable confrontations on AIDS funding, education, and prevention during the 1980s and early 1990s. Congress passed legislation prohibiting Centers for Disease Control funding from being used for AIDS education materials “that promote, encourage, and condone homosexual sexual activities or the intravenous use of illegal drugs.” In 1992, the New York City Board of Education voted to ban certain AIDS education materials from classroom use and to instead emphasize abstinence. Activist groups like ACT UP and the Youth Education Life Line (YELL), which was dedicated to advocating for young people’s voices in AIDS education, criticized these policies.
Teach with this item from Unit 3 of the curriculum guide, Reading Dangerously: Censorship and the Freedom to Read in 20th Century America.
The copyright and related rights status of this item has been reviewed by The New York Public Library, but we were unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the item. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
