Civil Rights Post 3

One of the last documentaries we watched was about a family who lived in a small town in the midwest. This town was all white and very homophobic. The son got a blood transfusion at the hospital, and the blood was contaminated with the HIV virus. He contracted HIV, and soon shortly after passed away. The town shunned the whole family because at the time, HIV was seen strictly as a disease that only homosexuals could get. The family went on the Oprah Winfrey show, and people from the town came on the show. Tnhey told the family they had to move because they no right to live in the town anymore. The man who spoke out the most against the family wasnt even from the town, but came just to make sure the rest of the crowd heard his points. Then many years later, Oprah had the family come back and also the people who spoke out the most. One of the women seemed very sincere in her apology and raised her kids with the ideals that there is nothing wrong with being gay. However, the other man apologized for the way he acted, yet he still firmly believed that being homosexual is a sin and didn't seem sincere in any way. I thought this documentary was crazy because I cant even imagine a town ostracizing a whole family just because they though his son was gay. This would never happen in california especially in this time.