In the early 1980s when the AIDS crisis began its impact on the gay community, many “expert,” authors promoted “cures” or “treatments” which the community gravitated toward. Many of these ideas were widely disseminated through the gay press, both regionally and nationally. Unfortunately, many of those ideas were factually and scientifically inaccurate.

In this exhibition, we select various theories espoused in these books and track how stories about the “cures” or “treatments,” were circulated by the gay press throughout the county. With more than a thousand titles in the publications section of our Archives, we have serials from throughout the United States, many from the 1980s and 1990s.

This exhibition reveals how the gay community inadvertently spread false ideas in its understandable zeal to find a cure. There will be a public exhibition opening on October 21 from 6:30-8pm. See you there!