Column: On World AIDS Day, remember prejudice can lead to unjust policy and serious consequences

Yesterday was World AIDS Day.

First held in 1988, World AIDS Day serves as an opportunity for people across the globe to unite against HIV/AIDS, advocate for people currently living with HIV and remember people who have died from AIDS.

The history of the virus in the United States is complex and contentious.

The HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s serves as a cautionary tale for today’s political environment.

When prejudice and fear permeate the government and society, the consequences can be deadly.

When HIV/AIDS first came into the spotlight in the early 1980s, the fear surrounding this rapidly spreading disease lead to prejudice against those most affected by it, particularly gay people.

Many people, including politicians, saw AIDS as a punishment from God for “immoral behavior.”

This kind of view hindered public interest in funding HIV research and resulted in a delayed and weak response to the epidemic.

Despite facing political threats, discrimination and death, the resistance to the HIV movement was strong and focused.

Both individuals and activist groups such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) pressured the government to speed up the process for approving drugs, raised awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention and combatted HIV-related discrimination through education and dialogue.

However, the government was slow to expedite the release of drugs that many believed could be life-saving.

By Dec. 31, 2000, 448,060 people had died in the United States from AIDS-related causes.

Of the many prejudices that exist in our society today, Islamophobia in particular parallels how homophobia in the 1980s impacted policies and ended lives.

In the 1980s, a fear of gay people resulted in violence and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people — ultimately because of a delayed and weak response to the HIV crisis and the categorization of an entire group of people as irresponsible and licentious.

Similarly, Islamophobia today has led to a delayed response to the global refugee crisis, distrust and acrimony toward Muslims and the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes.

It is easy for prejudice to fester without notice—as extreme-right candidates are appointed to important political positions, we must all be on high alert to prevent prejudice against groups of people from translating into policies that result in unjust treatment of individuals and an escalation of crises.

Stigma stems from fear of differences. In the face of political discourse that encourages divisive thinking and extreme ideologies, it is getting more and more difficult to find examples of spaces that foster open conversation, empathy and cross-cultural understanding.

Inaction borne of apathy is not only unproductive, but dangerous.

We must stay alert.