White Gays Revolt: Hillary Praises Nancy Reagan on HIV/AIDs

In an interview conducted at Nancy Reagan’s funeral today, Hillary Clinton recounted a version of history that didn’t happen, lauding the former first lady’s “low key advocacy” for the cause of HIV/AIDS awareness. “Low key” is one way of putting it. In fact, the Reagan White House is infamous for its lengthy, deadly silence on the epidemic.


Clinton’s remarks came after an extended explanation of Nancy Reagan’s efforts to expand stem cell research after her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Then, in a bizarre turn, Clinton began talking about AIDS in the 1980s, a topic anyone looking to remain civil and complimentary would go far out of their way to avoid at the funeral of Nancy Reagan:


“It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan, in particular, Mrs. Reagan, we started national conversation when before no one would talk about it, no one wanted to do anything about it, and that too is something that really appreciated, with her very effective, low-key advocacy, but it penetrated the public conscience and people began to say ‘Hey, we have to do something about this too.’”

It’s almost tempting to interpret this as withering, devastating sarcasm—the Reagans “started a national conversation about AIDS” in the same sense that George W. Bush “started a national conversation” about Iraq.

In reality, the Reagans were infamously, disastrously silent on AIDS—as President, Ronald Reagan spoke more about UFOs than HIV, and didn’t even say the word in a public address until 1987, by which point it had killed tens of thousands of Americans. The virus was quite literally a joke inside the Reagan White House. Whatever “advocacy” of Nancy’s Clinton is dreaming up here must’ve been low-key to the point of non-existence—just last year it was reported that she ignored her Hollywood friend Rock Hudson’s pleas for help as he himself died from AIDS. It’s hard for one ugly episode to stand out among so many ugly aspects of the Reagan administration, but Nancy and Ronald’s deliberate silence on one of the defining public health crises of the era is surely near the top of any list. What Clinton is saying isn’t just untrue, but erases the deadly legacy of the Reagan era.

Peter Staley, an HIV/AIDS activist and founder of Treat Action Group, who was diagnosed with AIDS-related complex in 1985, told Gawker, “Thank God I’m not a single issue voter, or she would have lost my vote with this insulting and farcical view of early AIDS history.”

Update: The Clinton campaign has released the following incoherent statement, indicating that Hillary “misspoke” when she lauded the nonexistent HIV/AIDS advocacy record of Nancy and Ronald Reagan:

 

Dan Savage: Clinton crediting Nancy Reagan for helping AIDS victims is a ‘fuking lie’
Columnist and LGBT activist Dan Savage ripped Hillary Clinton on Friday for saying that former First Lady Nancy Reagan helped start “a national conversation” about the HIV virus.

“This is a f*cking lie,” Savage wrote in The Stranger. “You could only say the Reagans started “a national conversation” about AIDS if terrified, desperate, and dying people screaming “WHY AREN’T YOU SAYING OR DOING ANYTHING ABOUT AIDS!” at the Reagans counts. It does not.”

The former secretary of state, who is running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, made her remarks earlier in the day before Reagan’s funeral.

“Because of both President and Mrs. Reagan — in particular Mrs. Reagan — we started a national conversation when before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it,” Clinton said in an interview with MSNBC. “And you know that too is something that I really appreciate with her very effective, low-key advocacy but it penetrated the public conscience. And people began to say, ‘Hey, we have to do something about this too.'”

Savage argued that Clinton “needs to walk this back immediately or she risks losing the votes of millions of queer Americans who survived the plague. We watched our friends and lovers die by the tens of thousands while Nancy and Ronnie sat silently in the White House.”

He also stated that he was “literally shaking” as he composed his criticism of Clinton.

“There are no words for the pain Clinton’s remarks have dredged up,” Savage wrote. “I’m supposed to be writing a column—it’s way overdue—but all I can think about right now are all of my dead friends, lovely guys who might still be with us if Nancy and Ronald Reagan had started a national conversation about HIV/AIDS. Or done something about it.”

Clinton’s description regarding Reagan also runs counter to analyses published by The Guardian and Towleroad, among others, as well as a Buzzfeed report last year stating that she refused family friend Rock Hudson’s request for help when he sought experimental treatment for the disease in France.

Update, 4:45 p.m. EST: Clinton released a short statement apologizing for her remarks.

“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,” the statement read. “For that, I’m sorry.”

Dan Savage: Clinton crediting Nancy Reagan for helping AIDS victims is a ‘f*cking lie’