As the AIDS epidemic spread throughout America in the early 1980’s, this poster did as well, created in 1987 by six activists for gay rights to stop the discrimination against homosexuality during the outbreak and to encourage people to take action(SILENCE=DEATH). The message SILENCE=DEATH was developed with the correlation between the current situation and the events in the Nazi concentration camps; the group stated that “silence about the oppression and annihilation of gay people, then and now, must be broken as a matter of our survival" (qtd. by SILENCE=DEATH). The silence they refer to is that of the people who were not speaking out and of the government under Regan that refused to acknowledge the problem or try to resolve it. Regan ignored the fact that thousands were dying from AIDS, and once he finally addressed the issue in 1987 after more than 20,000 had died from the disease, his representatives declared that “they are only getting what they justly deserve” and that AIDS was “nature’s revenge on gay men"(Reagan's AIDS Legacy). The protest group ACT UP, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was formed that year and the SILENCE=DEATH Project joined them and made the iconic image their logo(wikipedia.org/ACTUP)ACT UP). Slogans created as parallels to SILENCE=DEATH include ACTION=LIFE and IGNORANCE=FEAR.

In fine print, the bottom of the image reads, “Why is Reagan silent about AIDS? What is really going on at the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Vatican? Gays and lesbians are not expendable...Use your power...Vote...Boycott...Defend yourselves...Turn anger, fear, grief into action" (SILENCE=DEATH). This call to arms screams out to end the silence allowing the discrimination. In Hitler’s concentration camps, gays were the most persecuted and were forced to wear inverted pink triangles just as Jews wore the Star of David. This same triangle, right-side-up, converts a symbol of shame to one of pride and the strength to resist further discrimination(SILENCE=DEATH). It is meant to liberate the gay community from previous associations and to motivate everyone to take a stand for their sake.During World War II, silence  led to the death of 5,000-15,000 homosexuals; four decades later, it was able to accomplish the same(Persecution of Homosexuals). Silence is represented as negative in this context and as the facilitating factor for all the atrocities committed to continue. The simplicity of this piece sends a clear message and its boldness is eye-catching. It demands listeners and there are no ifs, ands, or buts: SILENCE=DEATH.

Howard, Brian. “SILENCE=DEATH”. ACT UP, January 2005. http://www.actupny.org/reports/silencedeath.html

Various Authors. “Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust”. wikipedia.com. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_homosexuals_in_Nazi_Germany_and_the_Holocaust#Homosexuality_and_the_SS

Various Authors. “AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power”. wikipedia.com. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_Coalition_to_Unleash_Power

White, Allen. “Reagan’s AIDS Legacy/ Silence Equals Death”. June 8, 2004. http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-06-08/opinion/17428849_1_aids-in-san-francisco-aids-research-education-cases