Stigmatized Grief: Lessons from AIDS
Creator
Peter Goldblum, MPH, PhD
Consultant to Project Trust
Presentation Preview
The Early Days of AIDS:
Uncertainty and Panic
• The first cases of AIDS reported in 1981.
• High Mortality Rate (1984, 7,699 new cases, 3,665 deaths). Most thought it was a death sentence.
• The cases disproportionately effected gay and bisexual men, a highly stigmatized group
• Rumors in the gay community ranged from conspiracies (government infecting gay men) to dire predictions (every gay man will die).
• The disease was label, Gay Cancer then GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency),
