Today we present the first half of our two-part series on the 1980s AIDS Crisis and the way the epidemic unfolded in America during the first five years it was uncovered. There are few moments in history that have been darker for our community than the decade between 1980 and 1990. Almost every single LGBTQ+ person connected to the queer world watched someone they love die of the disease and most people watched countless of their siblings suffer. As if the horror of the disease itself were not enough, the way the crisis was portrayed to the world only stoked the fires of homophobia and created a bias that blocked medical help and prevented research funding.  Before we continue, we want to add a trigger warning and even encourage you to return to this episode later if you are not in a good mental health state. We are continuing on with our coverage of the AIDS crisis as it is long overdue and we want to remind everyone of, not only why we celebrate, but why we march. We want to remind others of why we rally, and protest, and riot, and fight to be heard and seen. As important as it is to dance and parade down the streets, it is equally important to remember where we came from. And to acknowledge the work we still have to do. In many respects, 2020 PRIDE much more resembles the early PRIDE years and not the celebrations we have taken for granted.  As a last piece of business, we would like to acknowledge three of our main sources upfront. The most influential reference of our research was the 1987 And the Band Played On by gay journalist Randy Shilts. Shilts lived and reported throughout the AIDS epidemic and his book is widely credited for helping to turn the tide of silence surrounding the disease in the 1980s. It is emotional and raw in some parts yet equally thorough and pragmatic in other places. Most importantly, And the Band Played On expresses the anger and outrage of those who watched the epidemic unfold and yet saw that no one would listen. And no one knew this better than Shilts who lived in the queer community and was the only journalist in the entire Nation to report on the epidemic full-time. On the day Shilts submitted his final draft of the book he was officially diagnosed with HIV and would die of AIDS 7 years later on February 17, 1994. The book itself would go on to become a best-seller and later turned into the widely popular HBO movie created under the same title. However, despite its monumental achievements and lasting legacy, the book was written in the height of the crisis. Therefore, it did not have the benefit of hindsight nor the gift of time which allows for better understanding and perspective. Because of this, Shilts inadvertently created the myth of ‘patient zero’ which not only affect people’s perception of the AIDS epidemic and the Gay community but also has affected the way we have viewed and classified disease outbreaks ever since. A hunt for “the outbreak patient” or “patient zero” creates a misconception of how illness actually travels and infects a group of people. There are other claims made in Shilts book that reflected the science and medicine of the time but that since have been disproved. A response to these issues was published exactly 30 years later and is the second maid reference for our research. Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic by Richard A. McKay is used as our backup source on much of this information.  Finally, our third major reference will be used mostly in the second half of our two-part series.