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Darnell Montejo

Professor Batty

English 102

24 October 2019

AIDS Wasn’t so Angelic: The Stigma around AIDS

The play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner had many themes

such as AIDS, lgbtq+, drug addiction, infidelity, religion, mental illness, etc. One of the many

themes that caught my eye was the use of Aids to advance the story, it was very tragic and

intriguing to read. To have Aids in the eighties was very stigmatized and it was very taboo to

even mention in public during that time. This play touched on very important topics that were

not being talked about during the time the play is set in and even when the book was released the

topic was still very controversial. Most people would argue that there was no stigma around gay

men with Aids during the eighties or even now. This play is a great example of how gay men

with Aids were stigmatized especially in the eighties and are still being stigmatized till this day.

First, I will explain my analysis about the play and its characters first. This play has to do

with many complex characters with some fall under the lgbtq+ umbrella (even if some of the

characters don't accept it). This story focuses on two couples Joe and Harper also Louis and

Prior. By Act I scene four you can tell that Louis and prior really do love each other but once

Prior tells him the bad news, which is that he has AIDS, their relationship dynamic shifts

between them. On the other hand, the relationship between Joe and Harper is very rocky and

unstable since their first scene together. The play continues to focus on how Joe might be gay but

cannot accept himself and also how Louis leaves prior in the hospital because gets extremely
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sick. The first two acts are very tragic, but they encapsulate how it might’ve been in the eighties

to either be gay or have AIDS in America. Another main character that fits in to the lgbtq+

umbrella would be Roy M. Cohn, he is a business man that catches AIDS but denies his

homosexuality and Aids. In the first and second act of Angels in America you discover the two

different relationships dynamics of Joe with Harper and Louis with Prior and how homosexuality

is a big part of their relationships. In the first act Joe denies and rejects his homosexuality while

Louis and prior are out and proud. This story mainly depicts how many people’s lives were

affected by the AIDS epidemics in the eighties.

The AIDS epidemics in the eighties was a huge part of this play and there is more to it

than just to advance the storyline there is a history to the AIDS epidemic in the eighties. The

effects of the AIDS epidemic are first introduced in the very beginning when the character Prior

Walter reveals to his boyfriend Louis Ironson that he has AIDS. Another character that has Aids

is Roy M. Cohn but this character denies that he has the sickness. Even in the first act Kushner

foreshadows death as it starts off with Louis being at a funeral for his grandmother. Then after

the funeral Prior tells louis that he has AIDS. In the scholarly article "History and AIDS in Was

and Angels in America." written by Susan Knabe delves into two pieces of literature Was and

Angels in America and explains the history behind these texts and the correlation of Aids within

those texts. Knabe argues, “Both texts also, importantly, work with a specific temporal register in

relation to AIDS and my emphasis on precise dates associated with these works in the

introduction is not incidental. AIDS as an epidemic is itself infected with the virus of time, (8)

and as such is always already part of a historical continuum which includes it, but is not limited

to it, though it may be limited by it” (Knabe). In this specific quote she discusses how the aids
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epidemic in both texts and how AIDS had its virus attached to it which is stigma and how society

during that time dealt with it.

In the eighties people who had Aids would sometimes deny or reject their diagnosis

because of the stigma around it. Many men would deny that they had AIDS, there is an example

of this in the play when Roy visits his doctor and the doctor tells him that he has AIDS but Roy

denies it and tells him he is wrong he has liver cancer, he also denies his sexuality in this scene

but that's another conversation. The part where Roy denies his diagnosis occurs towards the end

of the scene and it’s when Roy and Henry, the doctor say “ROY: And what is my diagnosis,

Henry? HENRY: You have AIDS, Roy. ROY: No, Henry, no. AIDS is what homosexuals have.

I have liver cancer” (Kushner, 22). This type of example of men rejecting or denying their AIDS

diagnosis was very common. The Scholarly article “The Analysis of Spirituality of Patients with

HIV/AIDS in Taking Lessons and Self-Acceptance” written by Neila Sulung and Rahmi Asyura

from the Department of Nursing in Indonesia goes in depth on how many men who got

diagnosed with HIV or AIDS would react in many negative ways including rejecting their

diagnosis. Sulung and Asyura say that “Most of male participants felt disappointed, shocked,

scared, embarrassed, angry, sorry, and reject knowing their status when diagnosed HIV/AIDS

positively” (Sulung, Asyura; 234). Sulung and Asyura also touch on how they react like this

because of the stigma around HIV/AIDS when they argue “This is an answer to the participants'

concerns because HIV diagnosis causes fear due to the stigma attached to HIV disease.” (Sulung,

Asyura; 234). Sulung and Asyura discuss the similar issue that happens in the scene of the play

and how men would reject or deny when getting diagnosed with AIDS because of the stigma

around it.
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Most people would argue that there is no stigma around gay men with AIDS in the

eighties, but this is not true many were discriminated for being gay and having AIDS during

those times. Some people argue that AIDS happened and that it’s a burden or a poison but do not

focus on how many lives it affected. This disease was scary during that time because many were

dying from it in the eighties and then stigma was layered on top of that that must've made things

even worse for people who were diagnosed with it. So yes, there was a lot of stigma around Men

with aids during the eighties.

In conclusion, this play is a great example of how gay men with Aids were stigmatized

especially in the eighties and are still being stigmatized till this day. I also explained my analysis

about the play and its characters first. This play has to do with many complex characters with

some fall under the lgbtq+ umbrella. The AIDS epidemics in the eighties was a huge part of this

play and there is more to it than just to advance the storyline there is a history to the AIDS

epidemic in the eighties. In the eighties people who had Aids would sometimes deny or reject

their diagnosis because of the stigma around it. Lastly, most people would argue that there is no

stigma around gay men with AIDS in the eighties, but this is not true many were discriminated

for being gay and having AIDS during those times.

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Works Cited

Knabe, Susan. "History and AIDS in Was and Angels in America." Extrapolation, vol. 49, no. 2,

2008, p. 214+. Literature Resource Center,

https://library.lavc.edu:2480/apps/doc/A190976200/LitRC?u=lavc_main&sid=LitRC&xi

d=f6193230. Accessed 8 Oct. 2019.

Kushner, Tony. Angels in America : A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Theatre

Communications Group, 1995.

Sulung, Neila, and Rahmi Asyura. “The Analysis of Spirituality of

Patients with HIV/AIDS in Taking Lessons and Self-Acceptance.” Indian

Journal of Palliative Care, vol. 25, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 232–235.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.4103/IJPC.IJPC_203_18.