1991-1992

•The red ribbon is introduced as a symbol of AIDS solidarity.

•Magic Johnson announces he is HIV positive.

•Queen singer Freddy Mercury dies of AIDS.

•AIDS becomes the leading cause of death in U.S. men aged 25-44.

•FDA licenses the first rapid HIV test.

•Elizabeth Taylor addresses the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam.

1987

•ACT UP is formed to protest the $10,000 per year cost of AZT.

•It adopts the motto, SILENCE=DEATH.

•President Reagan makes his first speech on AIDS.

•The U.S. forbids immigration by people with HIV, a policy later signed into law by President Clinton.

•Liberace dies of AIDS.

 

1988

•ACT UP protests shut down the FDA. Within a week, the FDA begins a "fast-track" policy allowing public access to lifesaving drugs still in clinical trials.

•The first World AIDS day is held on December 1^st.

 

1989

•Scientists find that even before AIDS symptoms develop, HIV replicates wildly in the blood.

•The goal of treatment shifts to keeping HIV at low levels.

•Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS.

Introduction