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Tolerance is just the act of allowing someone to exist. We preach tolerance in America, but mere tolerance is insufficient to deliver equality. Sanders asserts “lesbians and gay men are making important contributions to the improvement of the quality of life in our city, state, and nation.” To Sanders, they were not just victims to pity, but integral members of a society that was being diminished by the great loss of LGBT talent and leadership due to AIDS. Yet Sanders’ statement went beyond simply stressing the humanity of these men and women. While I applaud all allies who today advocate for LGBT liberties as courageous individuals, I must say that to do so in a time when gay men were stigmatized as plague rats and evangelists referred to AIDS as a gay punishment, required not just courage, but a bold, almost radical commitment to the belief in the principle of equality. Advocating for the humanity and dignity of LGBT people in the middle of the AIDS crisis meant standing against an overwhelming surge of hate, ignorance, and fear. The modern Gay Rights Movement born in the late 60s had achieved some small victories for LGBT rights through the 70s, but the AIDS epidemic threatened to erase their advances and reinforce the bigoted view of the gay man as both mentally and physically ill. Despite thousands dead, President Reagan did not even mention AIDS until months after Bernie’s proclamation. While the American people’s fears stirred into a frenzy, the government’s response to help those affected by AIDS was notoriously slow. Just days after Bernie Sanders signed this proclamation of a “Gay Pride Day”, Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana who contracted the virus from a contaminated blood treatment, was expelled from his school due to fears he could be contagious. Little was known about the disease or its transmission other than its association with gay men as its principal victims. The AIDS epidemic spurred a public panic. In the four years since its first documented case in 1981 (then called the “gay cancer” and later “Gay Related Immune Deficiency”) AIDS ravaged the community and claimed thousands of lives. In 1985, the LGBT community was struggling through one of its great tragedies, the AIDS epidemic. To fully understand what these 30 years of advocacy mean to me, it’s important to contextualize what standing up for LGBT rights entailed in the 80s. I want to vote for a candidate who has been standing up for me since day one. I don’t want to vote for a candidate that only chose to recognize my humanity when it became politically expedient. As we near the democratic primaries, I believe it is important for the LGBT community to consider the value of such a long history of support. I was born in 1985, which means that this man has been advocating for my civil rights my entire life. The above image is of Bernie’s declaration of a “Gay Pride Day” in Burlington, VT in 1985. Bernie Sanders’ Gay Pride Day Proclamation and the History of LGBT Advocacy