AIDS 833pressures, the U.S. Civil Service Commission
rescinded its ban on hiring homosexuals. Now gays
chose to run openly for public office. In 1977,
Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to run for
office in California, was elected supervisor in San
Francisco. The next year he led the fight against a
California law that would fire gay teachers. Former
California governor Ronald Reagan opposed the bill
as a violation of human rights, as did President Jimmy
Carter; the proposition was defeated by a million
votes. Three weeks later Milk was assassinated; he
became a martyr to the gay rights movement. (Sean
Penn played the starring role in Milk[2008], a sym-
pathetic account of the activist’s life.)
The Gay Liberation Front, Come Out (1970)
atwww.myhistorylab.com
ReadtheDocumentAIDS
But by the late 1970s, as gays were openly acknowl-
edging and celebrating their sexual identity, many
were being struck down by a lethal new disease.
World health officials had spotted the outbreak of yet
another viral epidemic in central Africa; but no one
noticed that this virus had mutated into a more lethal
strain and was spreading to Europe and North
America. On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) alerted American health officials to
an outbreak of a rare bacterial infection in Los
Angeles. What made the outbreak distinctive was that
this particular infection, usually found in infants or
older people with fragile immune systems, had struck
five healthy young men. All were homosexuals.
Within months, all died.Cleveland1982 19841987 1990CincinnatiToledoColumbus
DaytonClevelandCincinnatiToledoColumbus
DaytonClevelandCincinnatiToledoColumbus
DaytonClevelandCincinnatiToledoColumbus
Dayton584Number of cases
195
65
22
8
3
The Spread of AIDS in Ohio, 1982–1990AIDS first appeared in large cities, such as
Cleveland (1982 map), where gays could mix more anonymously. By 1984, AIDS had spread
to every major city in Ohio; thereafter, it dispersed through much of the state.