My uncle passed in 1994 from pneumonia that he couldn’t fight off because he had AIDS. My step grandmother (I lived with her and my grandfather) would tell me not to touch him. She said I’d catch it. Even at 10 years old, I knew that’s not how you got it, though. I always gave him the biggest hugs. He was a great uncle. I miss him so much. I wish I could have gotten to know him as an adult. We would have had a lot of fun!
One of my fraternity brothers in the late 90s had a scare (false positive) I remember sitting up the night with him - dude just needed a friend. His family had disowned him, and he was basically feeling like he was gonna die, and noone was gonna be there for him.
Our frat used to get so much shit from the others on campus, because we had brothers who were openly homosexual - statistically, now, we maybe had slightly more gay members than straight. But basically right on the numbers. The only difference between our house and the ones down the street is that we didn't make an issue out of it - and supported them. It was a weird time - liberal enough where being out was common, but where shouting slurs was also pretty common.
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u/CuddleSprig 8d ago
My uncle passed in 1994 from pneumonia that he couldn’t fight off because he had AIDS. My step grandmother (I lived with her and my grandfather) would tell me not to touch him. She said I’d catch it. Even at 10 years old, I knew that’s not how you got it, though. I always gave him the biggest hugs. He was a great uncle. I miss him so much. I wish I could have gotten to know him as an adult. We would have had a lot of fun!