States Cut Funding For HIV, AIDS Drugs, Record Number Of People On Waiting Lists

In Martin Scorcese's documentar­y, Public Speaking (about Fran Lebowitz), Lebowitz has some brilliant observatio­ns on how important the gay men were to the arts in general and how AIDS changed that.  It's entirely likely that had there been no AIDS, we wouldn't have reality TV today.  

The AIDS epidemic diluted the culture by ushering in a "last man standing" scenario, as those people who weren't getting laid (presumabl­y more boring, and less attractive­, less talented) survived.  


Back in those [pre-AIDS] days, you had this very particular audience of connoisseu­rs, of very harsh critics. If the prima ballerina took a misstep you could practicall­y hear the hisses. And this audience was mainly gay men. And they were wiped out in almost one fell swoop. I went to the ballet this year, and it was like we were on Oprah: constant idiotic applause! Back then judgment wasn’t considered a bad thing! We now have actual judges who don’t judge, they just pat you on the back. Another thing that happened was that when this whole wave of amazing artists and performers died off almost instantly, all these second- and third-rate­s scrambled to take their place. So now you have untalented people at the forefront of the cultural world who wouldn’t have been there if not for AIDS. 

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