ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with two key questions: In what ways did the onset of AIDS in the United States during the early 1980s affect the lesbian and gay movements' organizing and political strategies? And how have the movements intersected with the policy process over time as AIDS has developed in the United States and on a global scale? In examining the development of HIV/AIDS within an appropriate historical context, this chapter interrogates the intersection between the lesbian and gay movements and the national policy process with particular attention to the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In the mid-1980s, AIDS leaders made a crucial decision to publicize the message that "AIDS is not a gay disease". The goal was to gain greater funding and public support and to convey the importance of AIDS prevention to all sectors of the population.
