# 20 years of AIDS

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-of-aids/67688>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 5, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-of-aids/67688 "2001-06-05T15:35:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-of-aids/67688/1 "2001-06-05T15:35:20Z")

</div>

So, today the United States is marking 20 years of AIDS. That is certainly not the correct date, but 20 years ago today, on June 5, 1981, the CDC first recognized a strange phenomenon occuring in five gay men written about in health journals…

I lost my friend Dickie to AIDS a year and a half ago. I hope and pray that my friends with HIV/AIDS live to see a cure, and mourn the hundreds of thousands who did not.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-of-aids/67688/2 "2001-06-05T16:00:30Z")

</div>

[David Sperry](http://home.nyc.rr.com/gaycouple/davidsperry.html)