ABSTRACT
In contrast to the US, when it comes to Europe, and Germany specifically, AIDS organizations have received much more scanty scholarly attention. The fact that othering in German AIDS discourse took on a specific form as anti-Americanism is particularly indicative of these discursive-geographic origins of AIDS discourse when it came to Germany. As argues, AIDS called into question a coherent gay identity as it accentuated the contrast between liberated homosexuality and its political legitimacy. One notable difference is that AIDS service organizing in Germany took on the form of a unified actor-the fact that AIDS Relief is the by far predominant form of AIDS organizing with a federated umbrella organization as its spearhead vis-à-vis is the federal state. Specifically, this goes for the links of AIDS discourse and its emotional climates with AIDS organizing ranging from the beginnings of AIDS Relief, to its political inclusion and the resulting transformation towards professionalized agencies.
