Introduction Page

A Look Government Policy During The HIV/AIDS Crisis

An educational resource to be used in Sixth Forms and colleges for World Aids Day

As a sixth form student, what do you know about the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s? World AIDS day occurs on the 1st of December every year, yet not enough is known about the shift in government policy, and consequent public perception, that occured throughout the period.

+ INFO

Peter Godfrey-Faussett

Terrence Higgins

Nicholas Laurd

Click below to read his testimony

Click below to read his testimony

Click below to read his testimony

Check out the map and timelines below to follow the spaces of AIDS victims

Questions:

Learning Objective:

To what extent did government policy change over the course of the 1980s and 1990s towards the HIV/AIDS crisis?

1. How do you think the government's attitude influenced the lived experience of HIV/AIDS victims? 2. How easy is it to track and identify the material legacy and culture of the gay community in 1980s London? 3 Should government attitudes be the main determinant of medical care and response to epidemics?

Find out more about the answer click here

Concluding thoughts

Visit the World Aids Day website: https://www.worldaidsday.org

Terrence Higgins 1945-1982

Terrence Higgins was the first known death caused by AIDS in the UK. He collapsed on the dance floor of the night Club Heaven where he worked, and would later die in St Thomas's hospital at age 37 on the 4th of July 1982. Terrence is famous for his death, but it is important to remember he lived too. Terrence had no government protection due to the unknown nature of AIDS/HIV. This mobilised people around him to campaign and create the Terrence Higgins Trust. This increased the pressure on the government to change its policy and improve healthcare for those with HIV/AIDS throughout the 1980s and continuing to the present day. Terrence (Terry, as friends and family knew him) was born in a small town in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He was a quiet boy who loved to dance, and no one knew about his sexuality, as only when he was 21 (1967) was it decimalised for two men to have sex. Terry joined the navy as a tool to get away from wales, but this wasn't for him, and he actively used his sexuality to get discharged. After this, Terry moved to London and got a job in parliament transcribing debates, another job where he had to hide his sexuality to avoid getting fired. He also worked as a DJ and a barman at Heaven and other gay clubs. This led to him travelling to places like New York and Amsterdam, where it is believed he contracted the disease. His friends remember him as kind, primarily looking after people new to the community. Like his boyfriend Rupert, who Terry helped to bring out of his shell. Rupert looked after Terry while his health deteriorated but struggled to get taken seriously by the hospital staff, with some doctors refusing to talk to him due to his sexuality. Terry lost a lot of weight and was extremely weak, with doctors unsure how to treat him. People knew of this ‘gay disease’ in America but didn't think it had travelled over the Atlantic. Terrence died on the fourth of July after one last visit from Rupert. Thanks to Rupert, Terry’s legacy is enshrined in history as Rupert believed that no one should suffer as his boyfriend did. This is why Rupert and some of Terry’s other friends set up the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). The THT is the UK’s biggest charity designated to support people with HIV/AIDS and education for the general public. The THT has pressured the government to improve its HIV/AIDS policy from 1983 to today and helps provide care where the government fails. The timeline on the homepage illustrates how the THT improved HIV/AIDS policy.

Home

Peter Godfrey-Faussett

“You’d disappear off and have a quiet weep about the situation sometimes..” Peter Godfrey-Faussett’s experience in the HIV/AIDS crisis illustrates perfectly how government responses shifted over the course of the crisis; whereas beforehand there existed no specialised medical care for AIDS, the opening of the Broderip Ward marked a watershed moment in the history of medical treatment in the UK during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The opening of the Broderip Ward of Middlesex Hospital in January of 1987 marked a turning point for the treatment of HIV/AIDS in London and the UK more broadly. Working in what was the UK’s first ever hospital ward dedicated to HIV/AIDS patients as a newly qualified junior doctor, Peter Godrey-Faussett was uniquely placed as a witness to London’s war on AIDS. “It was often hard to remain clinically detached”, recounts Godrey-Faussett. “As a medical student and young doctor, most of the people that I had treated were reaching the end of full productive lives, but here on the Broderip Ward were people of my own age, reading the same books, going to the same operas and plays.” The work that Godrey-Faussett and various other medical staff pursued was ultimately pioneering for the treatment of other HIV/AIDS patients. A key element of the medical care they provided was to treat their patients in as empathetic and humane a manner as possible, in contrast to the paranoia and judgment often reserved for HIV/AIDS patients. “Right from the start we engaged with the patients and their partners, and, where necessary, turned a blind eye to regulations” recounts Godfrey-Faussett, adding that “The ward was the only one in the hospital to have additional fridges full of delicious meals that people brought in for their partners, often shared with other patients and the health team!”. Despite the grave enormity of the AIDS crisis in the UK, new progress was being made in the realm of medical treatments. “The arrival of increasingly effective antiretroviral therapies changed everything”, states Godfrey-Faussett. In contrast to previous treatments reliant on multi-drug therapies, it proved to be both a more efficient and convenient treatment, and was according to Godfrey-Faussett, one of the more consequential developments in the treatment of AIDS during the early 90’s. More pressingly, he reiterates the the necessity for further effort in treating HIV/AIDS, stating that “some of the systems that made the United Kingdom so open to people living with HIV have changed. Funding for the sexual health clinics and community organizations is tighter, and the restrictions on who is eligible for NHS treatment are enforced more rigorously.” Although he is thankful for the progress made, Godfrey-Faussett’s own experience confirms the positive developments made in AIDS treatment during the late 80’s and early 90’s, while stating the need for further work. Peter Godfrey-Faussett now works as a Senior Adviser for the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and remains deeply involved in further research on treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Home

Nicholas Luard, 1937-2004

Nicholas Luard's daughter Francesca passed away from AIDS in the mid-1990s. Francesca was born into a wealthy family and had a large support system around her when she died. His testimony will demonstrate why the government's attitude to the AIDS/HIV pandemic changed over time as medical and political awareness increased once the crisis affected those outside of stigmatized communities.

By the late 1990s, treatment options for HIV/AIDS became more widely available, and the stigma and hysteria surrounding the epidemic slowly began to subside. However, in the popular press stigmatisation was still present. This suggests that the government’s response to the public health crises had changed by the late 1990s. Once AIDs presented itself as a public health threat not only to the LGBT community, only then was more conservative media interested in defending the victims of HIV/AIDS, allowing for the creation of a supposed distinction between the ‘innocent’ and ‘non-innocent’. Equally, the inclusion of diverse testimonies became more normalized and included. Writer, journalist, and politician Nicholas Luard spoke to The Times in 1998 and talked about his personal experience with HIV/AIDs. His daughter Francesca Luard had contracted HIV in 1991 and passed away in 1994. Luard talks of his initial reaction to her diagnoses, ‘I knew she was getting the results that day, but I like everyone else was sure she couldn’t be infected.’ Luard recalls the exact moment he was informed of his daughter's diagnoses. 'It was classically one of those moments you don't forget. I was telephoned by Elisabeth and she said, "We're walking back down the Fulham road...it's yes." The doctor’s prognosis suggests that by the 1990s HIV/AIDs was no longer viewed simply as a ‘gay disease’ but as a public health crisis. More serious conversations about sexual health and sex education for both heterosexual and homosexual couples were long overdue. Luard recounts what Francesca had written in her journal; ‘I have never shared a bed with fewer men than I can count on both hands.’

The exact way Francesca contracted the virus remained a mystery to doctors and her family. Whilst not explicitly promiscuous and with most of her former sexual partners tested, this is still the most likely way she got sick. As Luard described, 'absolute rage settled inside me' at the thought of the individual who infected his daughter. In London, attitudes to sex and sex education by the end of the 1990s were changing. Cultural backlash to the rigor of the 1980s was underway. However, discussions around female sexuality were still scarce and ambiguous, resulting in less awareness around sex education for women. The HIV/AIDs crisis abruptly brought a halt to the sexual revolution. Nevertheless, awareness around contraception options for both men and women increased. This is important when consider why the government response to public health changed. Because it was forced to, not necessarily because British society became more tolerant to LGBT identities.

What is interesting about Luard’s testimony is that it shines a light on the often-overlooked victims of HIV/AIDs - women… ‘and then of course, life was not the same again.’ Luard’s narrative also acts as a descriptive analysis of Francesca’s life. This brought a personal note to the HIV/AIDs crisis and emphasizes the importance of individual stories. ‘She was the only woman in my life…who has ever frightened me. I would just back down. She had these incredible dark eyes - very, very steady. She was enormously strong inside but she was also a hurricane - she was not the easiest person.’ Luard is honest about his difficult relationship with his daughter, and how their relationship was left when she passed away in 1994. There is a sense that Nicholas feels shame in his daughter’s diagnosis, suggesting attitudes to female sexuality and sexual activity had not been discussed in their conservative household. Nor had the government fully accepted the truth about sex education in the UK - that it needed revising. Only 58% of women aged 18-24 believed girls should have some sort of sexual experience before settling down in a long-term relationship, suggesting these discussions were lacklustre. Nicholas’ and Francesca Luard are a reminder of the individual families affected by the public health crises, and whilst the government had made some progress towards changing attitudes around sexuality and LGBTQ identities, the stigma was still prevalent. Many mainstream newspapers only began to privilege perspectives of privileged people.

Nicholas Luard passed away in 2004, however him and his daughter’s legacy live on in the words and actions of his late former wife British Socialite, Elisabeth Longmore. He went on to write two books about his daughter which forced him to re-educate himself on the HIV/AIDs crisis and public health in the UK.

Home