Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Content Warning: This section contains references to anti-gay bias, the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS, and death.

The symptoms of acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were first documented in the United States in 1981, when the first patients began showing evidence of suppressed immune systems. Early cases appeared to be limited to gay men; a physician in Los Angeles discovered five instances of lung cancer in otherwise healthy individuals, and reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated a rare and aggressive cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma that was affecting gay men in both New York City and in California. After extensive research, scientists from the United States and France identified HIV as the retrovirus that causes AIDS (“A Timeline of HIV and AIDS.” HIV.gov). HIV attacks the body’s immune cells, thus preventing the body from being able to fight infection. If left untreated, HIV becomes AIDS—the final stage of the disease (“What Is HIV?” HIV.gov, 13 Jan. 2024).

Because HIV was a novel virus at the time of its emergence, scientists knew little about its modes of acquisition and transmission. By 1984, panic about HIV/AIDS spread as it became widely known by the public. Misinformation about the disease—due to its initial appearance in gay men—led to many false beliefs regarding how the virus was transmitted. Its initial name—gay-related immune deficiency—added fuel to an existing climate of anti-gay sentiments and stereotypes (Ayala, George, and Andrew Spieldenner. “HIV Is a Story First Written on the Bodies of Gay and Bisexual Men.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 111, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1240-42). In the novel, Brunt illustrates some of the false beliefs regarding AIDS transmission through the Elbus family, who worry that they might contract AIDS through a kiss on the head or by sharing lip balm. Such misconceptions led many people—even family members—to avoid or even shun people with AIDS, and some medical professionals even refused to treat patients (Purcell, David. “Forty Years of HIV: The Intersection of Laws, Stigma, and Sexual Behavior and Identity.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 111, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1231-33). Indeed, a 1987 Gallup poll reported that just over half of those surveyed (51%) believed that those who lived with HIV were to blame for their diagnosis (McCarthy, Justin. “Gallup Vault: Fear and Anxiety During the 1980s AIDS Crisis.” Gallup, 28 June 2019). While the Elbus family does not blame Finn for his illness, they do place blame on his partner—Toby—whom they believe transmitted HIV to Finn.

In response to the stigma—and out of a need to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS—activism and education about AIDS, its cause, and its transmission and prevention gained prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s. Organizations such as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power lobbied for research and access to health care and treatment for people with AIDS. The Red Ribbon Campaign’s AIDS Memorial Quilt also promoted compassionate treatment of people with AIDS, with the latter seeking to honor and memorialize those who died of the disease.