Former President George HW Bush died on November 30, one day before the 20th year anniversary of World AIDS Day. While many Americans mourned the loss of Bush, others felt conflicted by his passing and how his actions impacted a major group of people; the LGBTQ+ community. While Bush was in office, he seemed uncomfortable talking about AIDS and wasn't necessarily trying to fix the public health issue. This angered and saddened many people with AIDS at the time of his presidency, who were mostly gay men. By the end of 1989, more than 59,000 Americans were killed by AIDS. Those who lived during his presidency and were affected by this illness saw his leadership as hostile and simply not enough to help those in need.
Although people have the right to mourn for Bush, personally, I feel that just because he was a president doesn't mean everyone should feel obligated to mourn his passing. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and for the LGBTQ+ community, myself included, see the legacy he left behind somewhat problematic. AIDS has been a deadly illness that still needs medical attention in all parts of the world, not just the U.S, and Bush didn't seem to do much while the epidemic was drastically increasing during his presidency. We have seen presidents act opposite of what they want to achieve, and sometimes that is not forgotten by those affected by their actions. It is important to see both sides of the conversation and try to understand both, even though one side can be problematic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/us/george-bush-hiv-aids.html
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