It was scary. On June 5, 1981, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles.
A second report of PCP and Kaposi sarcoma cases in New York City and California followed a month later. The Bay Area Reporter had its first story July 2, 1981, a brief item about "Gay Men's Pneumonia" — potentially linked to poppers — buried on page 34.
As we all know now, an unimaginable crisis would engulf the world and blow a hole through our community. The disease ravaged the gay community, but really, no one was immune.