Tonight, I watched the 2012 American Masters documentary "Inventing David Geffen" and a segment on gay men and AIDS made me realize something about periods of time and AIDS when it comes to this country.  

With all of the division, hate, anger, lack of compassion, and venom directed towards those other than heterosexuals in current times when it comes to about half of political America, I wonder if the AIDS crisis would have emerged in modern times instead of the 80s, if the reaction would be very different.

The most cynical part of me believes that if this disease emerged tomorrow in a similar way as back then, there from the right wing, there is a possibility there would be less compassion and urgency today than in the 80s.

Yes, those of us alive during the emergence of HIV/AIDS already know of the dismal response and reaction from the Right and government back then, but I think it would be even worse today (for the Right, but not the Left and the rest of the world). 

And is that not something quite distressing to imagine forty years later?  And if some think this is an unrealistic thought, imagine the response from the Right in these current times if some sort of strange ailment affecting transgender people emerged similar to HIV/AIDS in the 80s.