Dreams of Quarantine
The thing about AIDS activism which is worth remembering is that it is an approach generally based on "harm reduction." In a nutshell, harm reduction "Works to minimize the harms associated with certain behaviours (eg. Drug Use, Sex, Partying) [and] Respects the individual's needs and lifestyle choices." (Toronto Vibe)
This is a far cry from the approach Thurman took, which his lawyer Carolyn Maddox presents as follows: "Two men with HIV having drug-fuelled compulsive sex puts other gay men in danger. [By killing them] my client was protecting the entire gay community from two men whose sexual behaviour threatens thousands."
Gabriel Thurman is presented as the radical individual within the “Rainbow Army," the guy whose actions and ideas obviously push the groups politics too far – all of which subtly covers up the fact that if Thurman were a real person his politics and actions would not be "too radical" for real AIDS activists, but would rather be diametrically opposed to the entire historic push of real AIDS activism. It’s like suggesting that a rapist was someone who "pushed feminist politics too far," or that the Klan represents an "overly radical kind of anti-racism…"
So Thurman’s repressive strategy of murder would really have no place in the tradition of AIDS activism. Indeed, individuals like Lyndon Larouche and Paul Cameron who have advocated the murder of HIV+ individuals have been isolated and exposed as fascists largely as a result of hard work by AIDS activists. This was not something people took lightly: when Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer proposed a quarantine for anyone who was HIV+ and continued to have sex (even safe sex), he needed a special police bodyguard the reaction was so intense!
But if "Strain" lies in characterizing AIDS activists as being pro-quarantine and pro-murder, it does not do so simply in order to paint "radical activism" as being dangerous and violent, but also as a way of propagandizing in favor of repressive measures itself.
Consider this courtroom testimony by the fictitious "Dr Sloan of the Centers for Disease Control." She starts by mentioning "radicals" who are proposing "Prosecuting people who knowingly infect their partners or making them bear part of the cost of their medical treatment."
(Please note that these "radicals" sound like Republicans…)
She continues, describing the "new killer strain of HIV": "If it spreads further we may not be able to stop it, ever. I believe we might be on the verge of a disaster, a new worldwide pandemic." (one must ask: how can we be on the verge of a new pandemic when the old one is still going full steam ahead?)
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