COVID death celebration evokes memories of HIV death celebration

[Crunchy Frog]

65. How would you have felt if there had been an

effective, safe, and free vaccine available to anyone who wanted it?

What if Freddie Murcury had caught it while attending a Nazi rally, and was a strong and vocal advocate against condom use, and in favor of condomless orgied?

What if people were mostly dying simply because they were refusing the vaccine, and because they were aligned with a violent, authoritarian political movement that was demonizing the vaccine?

What if some vulnerable gay men were dying because of other people's refusal to get vaccinated, and other people were dying because vaccine refusers were taking up all the medical resources so that they were inaccessible to others?

What if the stigma wasn't about being gay, but about being racist, authoritarian, and encouraging others to recklessly endanger their own and other people's lives?

I know I probably would have felt differently about the situation at the time. Maybe you wouldn't have.

I read the HCA reddit, and don't feel guilty or ashamed about it. People don't qualify for that award unless they have been actively promoting antivax, anti-masking, and/or Covid and science denial. I'm just fine with that.