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Matthew Hodson Profile picture
@Matthew_Hodson
Feb 10, 2023 • 6 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
Just 30 years ago the Daily Mail was discussing the extermination of homosexuality as a ‘hope’.
#LGBTplusHM Image
Me in 1993.
At the time the age of consent for gay men was 21, we could not marry or serve in the army and Section 28, banning the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, was in force.
Our communities were bludgeoned by homophobia and #AIDS for which then there was no effective treatment. Image
The parallels between the media treatment of gay men (in particular) in the late 80s / 90s and trans people now are obvious and chilling.
I fought for gay rights then.
I stand with trans people now. ImageImage
Homophobic abuse was everyday in the media in the 1980s and 90s.
It reflected and nurtured widely held homophobia in society, championed by Government ministers, the Church and Police.
We were dying of #AIDS or grieving those who did.
This only spurred their efforts.
#LGBTplusHM ImageImage
The Press Council (the 80s equivalent of the Press Complaints Commission) ruled that scornful references to gay men as ‘poofs’, ‘poofters’ or ‘woofters’ were acceptable.
I wish the desire to exterminate #LGBTQ+ people was just history.
It is not.
#LGBTplusHM ImageImage

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More from @Matthew_Hodson

Matthew Hodson Profile picture
Feb 24
I was blindsided on a radio interview the other day by being asked, “But since the knee operation, your health is great, right?”
I tried to deflect.
I didn’t want to answer.
Here’s my answer (and some news).
🧵 1/14
aidsmap.com/news/feb-2024/…
Me gymming but looking tired.
In April 2022, almost 2 years ago, I began experiencing stabbing pains.
They were intense but intermittent; I was busy at the time so I tried to ignore them. I had a live broadcast that I was scheduled to do for aidsmap and I didn’t want to miss that.
2/14 Me with a mic.
The next day I was persuaded to call the NHS Helpline (111) who sternly instructed me to go directly to Accident and Emergency.
They ran some tests and, when the results came through, put me on a trolley, a drip and nil by mouth for potential surgery.
3/14 Me on a hospital trolley, on a drip.
Read 14 tweets
Matthew Hodson Profile picture
Feb 18
A 🧵 on #AIDS in the 80s/90s:
I was 15 when I first had sex with a man.
I’d snuck off to London’s Heaven nightclub with the express intent of ridding myself of my ‘gay virginity’, a goal I achieved easily with a visiting American photographer.
1/13
#LGBTplusHM #UnderTheScope A black and white photo of me at 17. I’m leaning over a chair wearing a baggy grey jumper. My hair is awesome.
Later that week, I watched with rising panic the Horizon documentary, Killer in the Village.
It warned of a new disease that was killing gay Americans. A few cases had just been identified in the UK too.
At that time, the disease did not have a name.
We now know it as AIDS.
2/13 A still from Killer in the Village.
The government’s ’Don’t Die of Ignorance’ HIV advertising campaign, featuring icebergs, a tombstone and a doom-laden voiceover, came out a couple of years later when I was in my first year at university.
3/13 AIDS Don’t Die of Ignorance poster.
Read 14 tweets
Matthew Hodson Profile picture
Aug 13, 2022
The first #AIDS case in the UK was reported in December 1981.
Three years later there were just over 100 cases, almost all of them among gay and bisexual men; over 40 of them had died.
At this point there wasn’t even confidence that condoms offered protection.
1/?
It was the 1980s.
Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government was in power.
Homophobia in the UK was deeply entrenched. Many felt that the deaths of queers was of no concern.
It was unclear when, or if, the Government would take action. 2/
In 1987, with a still relatively small but significant number of cases observed among heterosexual people, the UK Government launched its first #AIDS campaign.
Billboards across the country proclaimed the message, ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’. 3/
Read 15 tweets
Matthew Hodson Profile picture
Aug 12, 2022
Anne Heche was a promising young actress.
She had great reviews behind her and great expectations ahead.
She was Ellen Degeneres’ first girlfriend in the public eye.
Shortly after she starred in a rom-com with Harrison Ford.
‘Could an out lesbian carry a movie?’ the trades asked. ImageImage
It was a lot of expectation to put on one movie and on the shoulders of one person.
The movie was not great. It received tepid reviews and poor ticket sales.
Studio executives (inc. gay ones) pronounced that openly #LGBTQ people could not play leads.
We still see this now. Image
The relationship with Ellen ended, with much tabloid crowing.
Anne Heche’s fragility was exposed - few could go through what she did, and without the cushion of extreme wealth that Ellen enjoyed, and not bear the scars.
When she acted, you could still see her talent, her spark. Image
Read 5 tweets
Matthew Hodson Profile picture
May 31, 2022
If you have recently been diagnosed with #HIV, please know these things.
Your life is not over.
You can still be healthy.
You can still have children. And grandchildren.
You can still have loving relationships and great, uninhibited sex (these may come hand in hand... or not).
When we are on effective treatment there is absolutely NO RISK of #HIV being passed on to our sex partners - even without condoms or PrEP.
So we can have great, fearless sex.
We call this Undetectable means Untransmittable or #UequalsU.
“Women living with #HIV can have children just like anyone else. You can conceive naturally, you can give birth naturally and you can have HIV-negative babies.”
@sashaishere88 on being a mother.
HIV changed, tell everyone. #UequalsU
Read 5 tweets
Matthew Hodson Profile picture
May 17, 2022
Yesterday I picked up my #HIV meds for the next 6 months.
I’ve been on treatment since 2003.
I now take 3 pills a day (some people take fewer).
These prevent me from getting ill.
They also mean I can’t pass HIV on during sex (#UequalsU).
HIV has changed. Tell everyone. ImageImage
#UequalsU stands for Undetectable means Untransmittable.
When #HIV is suppressed by treatment to undetectable levels there is NO RISK AT ALL of passing it on during sex.
How awesome is that?
HIV changed. Tell everyone.
With access to effective treatment, people with #HIV should now live about as long as people who do not have HIV.
Pic: me, at 54, after 24 years living with diagnosed HIV - and 19 years on treatment, this week.
HIV changed. Tell everyone.
aidsmap.com/about-hiv/life… Image
Read 4 tweets

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