The film "And the Band Played On" was a very graphic portrayal of the beginning

of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. It vividly depicted the medical, social,

government, and political forces behind the AIDS epidemic's origin and rapid spread. It

tells the political as well as the scientific struggle that occurred with the discovery of

AIDS. The main character, Dr. Don Francis, heads the research of AIDS with little

money and little help. The reason for the lack of funding was because AIDS was

considered the “gay man’s disease” and there was more emphasis on who discovered the

disease rather than actually helping those who had it. This movie was about the

government and many other individuals being ignorant and looking the other way

because homosexual males were seen as a lesser priority and an inferior group.

CDC officials ran into a large barrier during their investigation; homosexual men

refused to allow themselves to be submitted for testing, and the tracing of their sexual

encounters. The CDC took a very long time to trace the spread of the disease to a single

person, who turned out to be a homosexual flight attendant who was extremely

promiscuous with other men. This was a large accomplishment at the time, but was only

a small success in the process as a whole. Other major factors impeded the progress of

effectively handling the epidemic. These included the initial lack of interest by media

and politicians, the lack of government funding, the homophobia of mainstream society,

the rivalry between major research organizations, the hostility of gays who spurned any

modification of their lifestyle, and the slow response of blood banks to safeguard their

supply.

Many physicians began labeling the disease Gay-Related Immune Deficiency

(GRID), and labeled homosexual men as