[QUOTE] [b]Costa86 wrote:[/b]
We can't frame the chain of events related to Freddie and HIV in the 1980s within the context of today.
As I said in my post above, in the mid-1980s the number of false positive from HIV tests was high. Freddie was probably not completely certain he had HIV before the 1987 skin lesion biopsy. He would have been clinging on to hope, but, at the same time, he knew in his heart of hearts that all was not right.
It is completely not unusual for someone like Freddie - mega famous, intensely private - to hide his HIV status from practically everyone until it was impossible not to do so. And we should not judge him on this with today's ruler.
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Agreed 100000000000%.
My best friend who did die from AIDS in ’98... For YEARS would go through phases. Sometimes he’d be calling me in the middle of the night with symptoms asking me if I thought he was infected. Scratchy throat, I got a call, a very slight fever, I got a call, a rash..got a call, a stye on his eye, got a call
Then for a while, he didn't talk about it at all because he would just get so stressed from the constant worrying, and he would be in denial.
People did not trust the tests because they were unreliable and many didn't trust the government, Felt that the government was utliling the disease to shame and scare gay people into not engaging in sex.
FreddieDearie