Written by Joseph Carrick
When people think of the LGBTQIA+ community in America during the 1980s, many will reflect on the aberrant policies of the Reagan administration and their willingness to overlook the AIDS epidemic that swept the nation.
However, NBC’s Golden Girls (1985-1992) approached the issue head-on and came to the conclusion that not only should LGBT people be seen as equals, but they should also be allowed to marry. Golden Girls was not the first television series to show America that queer people exist – All in the Family was doing it a decade before in the 1970s. But what makes Golden Girls special in this regard was their refusal to reject LGBT culture in an era marked by fear, largely caused by the AIDS epidemic.
In 1990, the episode titled “72 Hours” aired right in the middle of the health crisis. This episode in particular dealt with American misconceptions of the disease and how breaking the taboo of remaining silent would only hurt its victims. In the episode, Rose Nylund (Betty White) supposedly contracted the disease when a blood transfusion went wrong. Rose could not understand how this could happen, and her head fills with the paranoia of the age. Blanche Devereaux’s (Rue McClanahan) signature line, “AIDS is not a bad person’s disease, Rose. It is not God punishing people for their sins,” reminds both Rose and America what the disease actually was and was not.
It fought back against religious hysteria present during this time as people struggled to understand how something like this could happen even with modern medicine. Beyond this, it also informed the public that AIDS is not a disease unique to LGBT culture and is more complex than a matter of morality. The significance of this episode alone could have defined the show, but in reality, many episodes prove to be just as powerful even today.
