On the front page of The Canberra Times on this day in 1984, was a story that reminds us of the discrimination faced by many during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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Family Team member of the ACT House of Assembly Mrs Bev Cains put forward an Anti-AIDS bill where gay men in the ACT who donated blood knowing they were HIV positive could be fined $10,000 and face five years in jail.
Those penalties were to have been the toughest in Australia at the time. In the midst of the AIDS epidemic it was sensible to ensure people living with HIV did not donate blood. Yet the bill was also undoubtedly fueled by moral panic, and the idea that HIV/AIDS was an illness unique to gay men.
She said the bill was aimed at the "ruthless homosexuals who wish to be considered part of mainstream society and for that reason donate blood".
Mrs Cains also criticised anti-homophobia campaigns by the Family Planning Association, an organisation she said "goes into schools ... promoting the homosexual lifestyle as a legitimate alternative lifestyle".
In 2020 there are still restrictions on blood donors, with gay and bisexual men unable to donate blood unless they've been celibate for a year.
While some groups are more vulnerable to HIV, it is a virus which can affect anyone. Today people living with HIV can live long lives with medical support.