I found this clip last weekend and felt that I had to post it.
Back in the day when the AIDS crisis was at its beginning stage, there was a lot of ignorance out there. Granted, there is still so much ignorance but geez, it awful back then.
The clips is a segment of the talk show Donahue in which several guests talk about the disease. One of the guests is comedian Stephen Stucker (Airplane) who at the time was suffering from it.
What struck me about this clip is Stucker's behavior. Some folks may call him highly inappropriate or demeaning. I disagree. Here is a man who is facing a disease, which will kill him. At the same time he has to cope with that, he has to educate the public who, as you can see by some of the ignorant questions and comments, allowed their hysteria to rule their senses.
I guess the clip is a reminder that we must never forget those who came before us and who died while valiantly fighting fear and ignorance.
You should file this with the "Know Your LGBT History" links.
ReplyDeleteStephen died on April 13, 1986, so he sadly didn't live to see the end of the century. He was only 39. I wonder what year this clip is from.
I got them impression Phil was coming down on him being too "queeny", which actually makes me embarrassed for him (Phil, not Stephen)
Apparantly Donna Mills was optimistic about when the witch hunts would cease.