June 5, 1981: The CDC issues its first report on the mysterious disease.
July 3, 1981: The New York Times publishes an article, “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.”
April 1982: The first congressional hearings are held on HIV/AIDS.
September 1982: The disease is given the name acquired immune deficiency syndrome—or AIDS.
April 23, 1984: Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announces that Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute has found the virus that causes the disease.
August 1985: Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana, is barred from school because he has AIDS.
1985: Medical facilities begin screening the blood supply.
September 17, 1985: President Reagan talks about AIDS in public for the first time.
October 2, 1985: Actor Rock Hudson dies of AIDS.
January 14, 1986: Dr. Anthony Fauci tells the New York Times that 1 million Americans have contracted HIV/AIDS.
March 1987: The FDA approves AZT, the first antiretroviral drug.
May 1987: Elizabeth Taylor convinces President Reagan to speak at an AIDS fundraiser in DC.
October 11, 1987: The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights draws 500,000 protestors. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed on the Mall.
December 20, 1988: Max Robinson, the first African-American network-news anchor, dies of AIDS.
1989: Dancer Alvin Ailey and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (above) die of AIDS.
1990: Ryan White dies at age 18. Congress passes the Ryan White CARE Act.
1991: The red ribbon becomes the symbol of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
November 7, 1991: Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive.
1992: AIDS becomes the number-one killer of men ages 25 to 44.
April 25, 1993: The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation is a milestone for the LGBT-rights movement.
February 6, 1993: Tennis’s Arthur Ashe dies of AIDS-related pneumonia.
1996: The AIDS “cocktail” arrives.
1997: AIDS-related deaths in the US decline by more than 40 percent.
1998: President Clinton authorizes $156 million for AIDS prevention, care, and education.
January 28, 2003: President Bush announces a $15-billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, targeting 15 countries mostly in Africa and the Caribbean.
March 2009: Health officials announce that at least 3 percent of DC residents have HIV or AIDS.
2011: DC mayor Vincent Gray convenes a commission to combat AIDS in the District.
This article appears in the July 2011 issue of The Washingtonian.
