AIDS in the '80s: The rise of a new civil rights movement

By Jen Christensen, CNN

Updated 2137 GMT (0537 HKT) June 1, 2016

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A special collection at the <a href="http://rose.library.emory.edu/collections/modern-politics/lgbt.html" target="_blank">Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University library</a> in Atlanta collected papers and artifacts from the height of the AIDS epidemic. This T-shirt celebrates the city's gay pride parade. It took courage to march in Atlanta's gay pride parades in the 1980s. There were no civil rights protections, but still, attendance tripled, and the community became more visible as it came together to fight stigma and fear that came with the AIDS epidemic.<a href="http://atlantapride.org/about/history/" target="_blank"> In 1982</a>, the city issued the first official proclamation to honor the festival, but Mayor Andrew Young, already a civil rights icon, would not sign it, according to Atlanta Pride. Two years later, Young showed his support for the community with a proclamation of "Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Day."
Photos: Mementos of an epidemic
A special collection at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University library in Atlanta collected papers and artifacts from the height of the AIDS epidemic. This T-shirt celebrates the city's gay pride parade. It took courage to march in Atlanta's gay pride parades in the 1980s. There were no civil rights protections, but still, attendance tripled, and the community became more visible as it came together to fight stigma and fear that came with the AIDS epidemic. In 1982, the city issued the first official proclamation to honor the festival, but Mayor Andrew Young, already a civil rights icon, would not sign it, according to Atlanta Pride. Two years later, Young showed his support for the community with a proclamation of "Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Day."
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"The American Music Show" was a quirky, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKvMp1kCpV4" target="_blank">low-budget public access TV program</a> that ran in Atlanta from 1981 to 2005. The weekly show featured interviews and music from the city's underground arts scene. In the wake of the AIDS epidemic that decimated the gay community, campy shows like this were critical to maintaining some fun. <a href="http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/americanmusicshow1256/" target="_blank">The show </a>might be most famous for launching the career of drag/punk performer <a href="http://clatl.com/atlanta/rupaul-starrbootys-revenge/Content?oid=1270111" target="_blank">RuPaul</a>, now the host of "RuPaul's Drag Race." It's "where I really got my start," he told Atlanta's Creative Loafing. "It was college for me."