i need help

Jasmine Cannon

LITR218

10/12/2022

Queer People and HIV and AIDS

The society has passed through a period of lack of understanding when it comes to the

AIDS pandemic. The two articles Rent and 1,112 and Counting are a representation of the

myths that existed about AIDS and how the knowledge of this disease resulted to

marginalization of the people due to lack of cure. However, the people living with the disease

were accommodating to each other and could fall in love. These two articles analyze the

disease that was associated with a particular group of people and caused lack of

understanding even in the medical team. However, they help to demystify the myths that

surrounded the people and increase knowledge sharing. The analysis will compare and

contrast the themes of stigmatization and support for people living with AIDS.

AIDS was a disease that caused massive deaths in different places. However, in 1,112

and Counting the highest levels of discrimination were on the gay people. The disease was

shown to be killing this group more and spreading faster. It is due to the spread of the disease

that the hospitals saw a decline in efficient care for the patients. There was also lack of

understanding of how the disease was spread. The gay people were thought to have been

greatly affected due to their sexual behaviors as the straight people were shown to be less

affected. Due to this statistic, the interventions on research were limited and many gay people

continued to face a threat to extinction with little interventions (Larry 15). In Rent, there was

indefinite discrimination with some people preferring to commit suicide when they were

diagnosed with AIDS. However, amongst the major characters, there was an effective living

with knowledge of the disease. Roger and Mimi know that they have AIDS but they choose to

fall in love with each other. With the knowledge of the disease, Roger decides that it is best to

avoid the relationship with Mimi in order to prevent burdening her with his baggage

(BroadwayInHD). Thus, in Rent, there is reduced stigmatization of the people living with HIV

and AIDS compared to 1,122 and Counting.

Supporting people living with AIDS is one way of making them believe in a just society.

The 1,122 and Counting shows a situation where the society is not supporting in actions of

enhancing the understanding of the disease and how it can be prevented since it was affecting

the gay people negatively. Kramer explained that since majority of the people who were

affected by AIDS were gay, there was limited response from the government. The Mayor of

New York was also silent as the disease was increasingly killing the gay people (Larry 18). The

exception however, would have been made in the case of the straight people having been

affected. However, in the case of Rent, the support the people get from around them is massive

even after learning they are HIV positive. The characters held together to the end even after

knowing some were infected and bisexual.

Schulman presents the problem she has which is the recycling of ideas on HIV and

AIDS with people presenting them as their invented ideas. She believed that Rent did a poor

depiction of AIDS and does not get it right with the queer people (Schulman 17). Although Rent

tries to show the societal aspect of HIV and AIDS there are many instances that show these

people as distinguished or bisexual. Mark and Roger however, commands most musical focus

and the latter is straight. However, it is Roger and two other queer characters that have HIV

but it is Angel who is a Trans who dies while Roger lives on. The bias represented is that the

queer community is majorly at a higher risk of death from HIV.

Works Cited

BroadwayInHD, “RENT,” (Nov 17, 2016)

Larry, Kramer's “Historic Essay: AIDS At 30: 1,112 and Counting,” New York Native, Issue 59,

(March 14, 1983)

Schulman, Sarah. Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the marketing of gay America. Duke

University Press, 1998.