Another reason it is hard to determine HIV's cultural impact on the gay and lesbian community is because the community is a difficult one about which to generalize. Nardi does not believe that AIDS slowed the development of the lesbian and gay community. Remember, gay neighborhoods, such as Castro, West Hollywood, Christopher Street and Montrose were in existence, so HIV only heightened the importance of community organization, mobilization, and communications. In many ways, HIV strengthened what was in place and pushed it forward. This benefit does not make up for the thousands of deaths attributed to the disease, however.
Communities organize and strengthen when forces of oppression exert themselves.
The tragedy is that so many activists and potential activists died in the prime of their lives, so the numbers and voices were minimized. Nardi says he believes AIDS will someday be a disease locked in the past, but he does not speculate on how long it will take to end the pandemic. I'm 50 years old. My estimated life expectancy as an HIV negative man is 72. Nardi wonders aloud.