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Talk:Political views of Lyndon LaRouche/Gays & AIDS

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LaRouche on Gays and AIDS

Gays

By 1986, LaRouche had a long history of attacking gays.[1][2] In the 1970s and 1980s, LaRouche and his supporters frequently wrote articles containing animosity toward gay people. Political enemies were publicly accused of being homosexual,[3][4] and errant members of the movement were berated in front of their peers with charges of homosexuality or other sexual improprieties.[3][5] Amid legal troubles, followers published leaflets accusing a federal prosecutor of being homosexual.[6] In 1982, LaRouche wrote a leaflet entitled "Kissinger, the Politics of Faggotry",[7] whose title was repeated in posters handed out by followers.[8]

In 1982, a LaRouche follower shouted to Henry Kissinger in an airport, "is it true that you sleep with young boys at the Carlyle Hotel?" In response his wife, Nancy Kissinger, hit the follower. The follower pressed charges which led to a brief but prominent court case, in which Lyndon LaRouche called Kissinger a "faggot" in a deposition, and Ms. Kissinger was acquitted.[9] In 1986, an minister and his mother who refused to sign petitions were called a "queer" and a "lesbian" by LaRouche supporters staffing a table outside a U.S. Post Office.[10] In 1987, representatives of LaRouche's National Democratic Policy Committee staffing a table outside a U.S. Post Office got into an altercation with an AIDS worker who said they had posted signage that read, "Kill the faggots. Kill Elizabeth Taylor." The woman was found not guilty of battery. Dana Scanlon, spokewoman for the movement, said that the followers were trying "to help fight AIDS politically, to return to traditional health measures."[11]

AIDS

In 1974, LaRouche formed a "biological holocaust task force" to analyze the effects of International Monetary Fund austerity policies in Africa. The task force published reports warning that these policies would cause a collapse of nutrition and sanitation, and could create an environment where pandemics of old or new diseases could begin. The reports compared the situation to the collapse of public health conditions which lead to the Black Plague which killed 1/3 to 2/3 of the population of 14th Century Europe.[12] The LaRouche organization continues to blame the IMF for the spread of AIDS.[13] When AIDS was first recognized as a medical phenomenon, LaRouche activists were convinced that this was the pandemic about which the task force had warned. LaRouche and his followers stated that HIV, the AIDS virus, could be transmitted by insects or casual contact,[14][15] citing as supporting evidence the high incidence of the disease in Africa, the Caribbean and southern Florida.[16]

AIDS became a key plank in LaRouche's platform.[1] His slogan was "Spread Panic, not AIDS!"[17] LaRouche's followers created "Prevent AIDS Now Initiative Committee" (PANIC), which sponsored California Proposition 64, the "LaRouche Initiative", in 1986. Proponents argued that the measures would merely return AIDS to the list of communicable diseases under the public health laws. Opponents characterized it as an anti-gay measure that would force HIV-positive individuals out of their jobs and into quarantine,[18] or create "concentration camps for AIDS patients."[19] Mel Klenetsky, co-director of political operations for the Larouche-affiliated National Democratic Policy Committee and LaRouche's campaign director,[20][21] said that there must be universal testing and mandatory quarantining of HIV carriers. "Twenty to 30 million out of 100 million people in central Africa have AIDS," Klenetsky said. "It is spreading because of impoverished economic conditions, and that is a direct result of IMF policies that have destroyed people's means of resisting the disease." Klenetsky said that LaRouche believes that not only drug users and homosexuals are vulnerable to the disease.[22] LaRouche newspaper New Solidarity said the initiative was opposed by Communist gangs of composed of the "lower sexual classes" and he warned of the recruitment of millions of Americans into the ranks of "AIDS-riddled homosexuality".[14] The measure was met with strong opposition and was defeated. A second AIDS initiative qualified for the ballot in 1988, but the measure failed by a larger margin.

During the 1986 campaign LaRouche speculated that if governments did not take "credible measures," lynch mobs of violence-prone teenagers might begin to attack suspected AIDS carriers, beginning in Britain and then spreading to other countries.[23] He said that if governments did not take action, such lynch mobs "might be seen by future generations' historians as the only political force which acted to save the human species from extinction".[24] In an interview with a radio show in California, LaRouche said that, ""A person with AIDS running around is like a person with a machine gun running around shooting up a neighborhood" and blamed the Soviet Union for creating the "AIDS conspiracy".[25] In an article in his magazine, Executive Intelligence Review, LaRouche wrote that politicians were not acting because "[t]hey did not want...to estrange the votes of a bunch of faggots and cocaine sniffers, the organized gay lobby...I don't know why they're "gay," they're the most miserable creatures I ever saw!"[26] LaRouche's 1988 campaign book (published in 1986) called homosexuality a "filthy and immoral practice", and said that he would get the support of voters who were upset by the Democratic Party's embrace of gays.[1]

LaRouche purchased a national TV spot during his 1988 presidential campaign, in which he summarized his proposals for dealing with the AIDS epidemic:[27]

1. Not less than $3 billion a year for an Apollo-style "crash program" of research to develop a cure for AIDS.
2. Application of time-tested public health measures against the virus, including universal mass-testing for the infection, combined with public health and out-patient medical services to all infected persons and their families.
3. A large-scale program of constructing hospital-bed capacity for handling the expected case-load of AIDS-infected persons requiring hospital care.

In the same broadcast he said that most statements about how AIDS is spread were an "outright lie. All the talk about safe sex is simply a propaganda stunt, part of the effort of our government to stop you from demanding that government spend the amounts of money which must be spent to bring this epidemic under control."[28]

In a 1999 webcast to followers, LaRouche said:

Look, take the case of AIDS, which I've been attacked for by all kinds of crazy people. I proposed that we mobilize $40 billion from the Federal government — that's back in the middle of the 1980s — to combat a danger, an epidemic disease of a new type, which implicitly threatens all mankind, which has — it's also in the United States, and it's in Africa: In Africa, because of environmental conditions and other tropical-disease conditions, the rate of spread of AIDS is now that most of the population of black Africa is threatened by virtual extinction — not total extinction, but near-extinction . . . Who cares about whether the guy's a homosexual? It's irrelevant! It's a human being who is suffering from a disease, who needs help and protection . . . Who wants to make a category of "homosexuals"? I don't believe in it; it's not a legitimate category. It's just people, people who are suffering and dying. [29][dead link]


  1. ^ a b c RODERICK, KEVIN (1986-10-17). "LaRouche Wrote of Using AIDS to Win Presidency". Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). p. 3. ISSN 0458-3035. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ Berlet, Chip (1995). Eyes right!. South End Press. p. 99. ISBN 0896085236, 9780896085237. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  3. ^ a b Witt, April (2004-10-24). "No Joke; Eight-time presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche may be a punchline on 'The Simpsons,' but his organization -- and the effect it has on young recruits -- is dead serious". The Washington Post. p. W.12. ISSN 0190-8286. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ Gerry Braun. (29 May). LaRouche camp to make final push for Prop. 69 | Measure would regulate carriers of the AIDS virus :[1,2 Edition]. The San Diego Union,A-3. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from California, South Newsstand. (Document ID: 1236083471).
  5. ^ Levine, Susan (1987-10-20). "LaRouche trial: Sure to be a spellbinder". Providence Journal. p. A-16. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ "Inside the Weird World of Lyndon LaRouche;" John Mintz. The Washington Post Washington, D.C.: Sep 20, 1987. pg. c.01
  7. ^ King, Dennis. Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, New York: Doubleday, 1989. ISBN 0-385-23880-0 Online text at here
  8. ^ Dinesh D'Souza. (1986, March 30). LaRouche Panics the Democratic Party :[Home Edition]. Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext),p. 3. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from Los Angeles Times. (Document ID: 58565747).
  9. ^ Carl M Cannon. (1988, August 7). HANDLING OF RUMORS STIRS DEBATE IN THE MEDIA. Philadelphia Inquirer,C.1. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1350979931).
  10. ^ "California extremist whips up Aids crusade / US public health debate stirred up by controversial politician Lyndon LaRouche". The Times. London. November 1 1986.
  11. ^ Olnick, Philip (SEPTEMBER 2. 1987). "Woman who works with AIDS victims found not guilty of battery". THE FREDERICK POST. (FREDERICK. MD). {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Baker, Marcia Merry, "NYC's Big Mac: Rohatyn's Model for Destroying Gov'ts," EIR August 25, 2006
  13. ^ "The IMF spreads AIDS in Africa" LaRouche PAC website, May 26, 2007
  14. ^ a b RODERICK, KEVIN (1986-10-06). "Paper Tied to LaRouche Attacks Gay Movement". Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). p. 21. ISSN 0458-3035. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Toumey, Christopher P. (1996). Conjuring science. Rutgers University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0813522854, 9780813522852. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  16. ^ "AIDS Spread by Air, Mosquitoes, LaRouche Says" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Jul 13, 1986. pg. 30
  17. ^ Faderman, Lillian (2006-01-01). Gay L.A. Basic Books. p. 308. ISBN 046502288X, 9780465022885. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "AIDS initiative already causing lots of fireworks;" John Marelius. The San Diego Union. San Diego, Calif.: Jun 26, 1986. pg. A.3
  19. ^ "LaRouche-Supported Initiative on AIDS Policy In California Spurs Debate on Handling Disease"By John Emshwiller. Wall Street Journal. New York, N.Y.: Aug 11, 1986. pg. 1
  20. ^ "DEMOCRATS SCRUTINIZE LAROUCHE BLOC" ROBIN TONER, New York Times. New York, N.Y.: March 30, 1986. pg. A.22
  21. ^ "CBS SELLS TIME TO FRINGE CANDIDATE FOR TALK" KERR, PETER. New York Times New York, N.Y.: January 22, 1984. pg. A.23
  22. ^ "LOOKING AT THE WORLD AS LYNDON LAROUCHE SEES IT; HIS ENEMIES LIST AN ECLECTIC MIX" Thomas Oliphant, Globe Staff. Boston Globe Boston, Mass.: Apr 6, 1986. pg. 24
  23. ^ LaRouche, Lyndon (February 9, 1987). "Teenage Gangs' Lynchings of Gays is Foreseen Soon". New Solidarity. p. 8. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  24. ^ [1]
  25. ^ "AIDS Spread by Air, Mosquitoes, LaRouche Says" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Jul 13, 1986. pg. 30
  26. ^ LaRouche, Lyndon (January 10, 1986). "The End of the Age of Aquarius?". Executive Intelligence Review. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  27. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20031205150339/http://www.etext.org/Politics/LaRouche/larouche.program.15 "The LaRouche-Bevel program to save the nation: Reversing 30 years of post-industrial suicide, chapter 13
  28. ^ Associated Press (1988-02-05). "The Deseret News. - Google News Archive Search". Deseret News. p. 3. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  29. ^ http://www.larouchespeaks.net/webcastpages/webcasttranscript121199.html
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