HBO's heartbreaking series 'It's a Sin' taught me more about the AIDS crisis than my high school ever did. Today's students deserve better.

In high school, I was taught about HIV and AIDS. 

I was taught that HIV is a virus that attacks T cells, a white blood cell that is vital in fighting off infections and diseases. As the virus makes copies of itself and severely damages the immune system, it becomes AIDS. I was taught that it was transferred through certain bodily fluids, mostly during sexual intercourse. I was taught the best way to stop the spread of HIV is to wear condoms during sex or to practice abstinence. 

I was taught about the virus itself, but I was never taught that gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected by the virus. I was never taught that it killed over 150,000 people in the US in a decade, and I was never taught how the world responded to the epidemic. 

I was never taught about the AIDS crisis. 

This hit me while watching HBO's series "It's a Sin," which follows a group of queer friends in London in the '80s. As each of the characters grappled with the epidemic, it became clear that, at 27 years old, partly thanks to my education in Long Island, New York, I still don't know the true scope of the AIDS crisis — one of the biggest events to affect LGBTQ people like myself. 

As some school districts around the US still fail to teach about the AIDS crisis, I'm worried this vital part of our history will be forgotten. "It's a Sin" proved how my high school education failed me and the people affected by HIV/AIDS. Today's students need the full story. 

I was never taught how HIV and AIDS affects a person physically and mentally, but 'It's a Sin' doesn't shy away from the symptoms

When I was younger, I couldn't list a single symptom of HIV or AIDS. It wasn't until years later when I watched "The Normal Heart," an HBO movie about the epidemic, that I learned people with AIDS often found lesions on their bodies.  

"It's a Sin" also shows this symptom, but the series goes further. Show creator Russell T. Davies demonstrated in brutal, heartbreaking detail how the disease ravages each person's body differently. Colin, the soft-spoken character, develops dementia because of his AIDS diagnosis. When the lead character, Ritchie, gets diagnosed, he finds out he has lymphoma.

Before watching the show, I didn't know AIDS could cause cancer or dementia, yet the generation before me had to face this reality every day.

The series also shows the severity of the AIDS crisis

The first reported case in the US was in 1981, and the following year 618 people had died in the US. At the time, it was called "the gay cancer" because it disproportionately affected gay and bisexual men. By 1991 — 10 years after the first reported case — 156,143 people had died from the virus in the US.

At school, we never talked about how an entire generation of queer people was taken out by a virus. 

"It's a Sin" gives faces to these numbers. Each character represents a different story during the AIDS crisis: how some were diagnosed with AIDS and died, some watched as their friends passed away, and others chose to ignore the epidemic altogether. 

These faces help viewers understand the severity of the epidemic, and it's working. In fact, the Terrence Higgins Trust, a sexual health organization in the UK, announced a record-breaking 8,200 people got tested for HIV in one day after watching the series, showing just how empowering education can be.

'It's a Sin' shows how politicians ignored the epidemic — much like my history classes did 

In the penultimate episode, the characters organize a protest to bring attention to the epidemic. They laid down in the middle of the street and stopped traffic. Quickly, police descend on them, attacking them, and arresting them. 

This was known as a "die-in," and AIDS activists around the world used it as a tactic to represent the lives that had been lost. It was also used to bring attention to the disease because most people outside the LGBTQ community were ignoring it. 

In the US, President Ronald Reagan, for example, didn't mention the AIDS crisis until several years after it began — after several thousand had already died. 

In history class, I learned about Reaganomics. I learned about the US' biggest blunders, like the Trail of Tears and the Japanese internment camps, but we never talked about how the country turned its back on queer people.

Today this reaction stands in stark contrast to the way governments jumped into action at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. If politicians had reacted the same way to the AIDS crisis, perhaps we would be learning about it in our schools.

Until schools teach the whole story of the AIDS crisis, we must turn to the storytellers who are willing to tell it

Looking back, I feel cheated that I wasn't taught my community's full history so that I could enter the world with full knowledge of what it means to be a gay man.

Students continue to be cheated today. In New York, it's mandated that all public schools provide HIV education. However, the New York State Education Department's 2019 Guidance for HIV and AIDS Prevention Education manual recommends teachers should focus on how HIV is transmitted, how it affects the human body, and that abstinence is the most effective way to avoid HIV. There is no mention of the AIDS crisis or LGBTQ people in the manual. In some places, like Texas, public schools are not even required to give students any HIV education. 

School districts should take a holistic approach to benefit all students' health and understanding — both LGBTQ and straight students. Teachers need to explain the forms of protection and who is most at risk, while also teaching the history of HIV/AIDS, so that this deadly virus and the people it has claimed are not overlooked. 

Right now, most students are only getting half the story. If we continue like this, we will raise another generation — like myself  — that doesn't understand the full picture of what it means to be queer. We are also in danger of forgetting all of the lives that were lost if we don't continue to tell their stories. 

That's why "It's a Sin" is so much more than just another TV series to binge. It's a vital health lesson, an honest history lesson, and a real eye-opener for LGBTQ people and anyone who didn't know the full, harrowing story.

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