History Main / TragicAIDSStory

Most storylines featuring HIV, AIDS, or even [=GRIDs=] usually show a long, painful, death. The drama comes from the way that family and friends react to the character's diagnosis: is there an internal battle and then resolve to stay and help in hospice, or do they get sick at the idea of either watching them die or watching ''[[{{Squick}} how]]'' they die, and run away? Expect a lot of {{angst}}.

A lot of characters who end up with this line of treatment are gay and usually men, but that's not always the case. Still, it is a common way to BuryYourGays.

->''"Will I lose my dignity?''
->''Will someone care?''
->''Will I wake tomorrow,''
->''from this nightmare?"''

* In ''Theatre/{{Falsettos}}'', Whizzer spends most of Act Two hospitalized because of this [[spoiler: and dies just before the show finishes]].

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''Series/MidnightCaller'' has Jack's ex-girlfriend Tina Cassidy, who gets AIDS from a one-night stand in "After It Happened," sells most of her belongings to pay for healthcare, and finally dies in a hospice in "Someone to Love." Also, a number of side characters from "Someone to Love," including a woman who got it from a blood transfusion, another woman who tells her family she has cancer because of the stigma, and a man who went blind.

Being diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which can develop into Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), [[ValuesDissonance formerly know as GRIDs]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay-related_immune_deficiency Gay-related Immune Deficiency]] [syndrome]), used to be a death sentence. It pretty much is in media, with GLAAD consistently reporting none or barely a handful characters living with AIDS or being HIV-positive.

* In ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'', many characters have and die from the disease, the most prominent being Angel. Mimi, a drug addict, comes close, and likely dies soon after the play ends, but still makes it to the final curtain. Roger's ex-girlfriend killed herself because she didn't want to live with it shortly before the events of the musical, and Roger himself suffers depression from it. The message implied was that Angel was TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth.

A lot of characters who end up with this line of treatment are gay, usually gay men, but that's not always the case. Still, it is a common way to BuryYourGays.

* Introduced in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Maria Robotnik from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' was a child who had NIDS, which has similar attributes to HIV-AIDS, and died several decades in the past. Maria had it most of, if not all her life. Her grandfather raised her in a special center in space trying to find a way to cure Maria. Maria doesn't end up dying of the illness, however. She ends up shot during a massacre and delivers a HeroicSacrifice for Shadow. Maria is of the TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth variety.

* In ''Theatre/Falsettos'', Whizzer spends most of Act Two hospitalized because of this [[spoiler: and dies just before the show finishes]].

* In "Theatre/Falsettos", Whizzer spends most of Act Two hospitalized because of this [[spoiler: and dies just before the show finishes]].

* ''Holding the Man (2015)'', an Australian movie adaptation of a memoir with the same name depicts the love story of said memoir's writer, Timothy "Tim" Conigrave, and his partner John Caleo which ends in John dying from the disease's complication and Tim following suit few years later, ten days after he finished the memoir in October 6th 1994. Both the book and the movie adaptation didn't hold back in describing/showing John's deteriorating progression of the disease and Tim's anguist coming from the guilt of infecting John.

* ''Holding the Man (2015)'', an Australian movie adaptation of a memoir with the same name depicts the love story of said memoir's writer, Timothy "Tim" Conigrave, and John Caleo which ends in John dying from the disease's complication and Tim following suit few years later, ten days after he finished the memoir in October 6th 1994. Both the book and the movie adaptation didn't hold back in describing/showing John's deteriorating progression of the disease and Tim's guild and anguish of it.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/{{Imajica}}'', a fantasy novel by British horror author Creator/CliveBarker (published in 1991), a subplot introduces an openly gay male couple who are friends of the Christ-like protagonist Gentle. One of the gay men, Taylor Briggs, dies of AIDS near the beginning of the story, while his partner Clem survives and goes on to help the protagonist. It is mentioned in passing that both men were in a lot of open relationships during the 1970s and "slept around" a lot, back before [=HIV=] became public knowledge; but only Taylor, the party animal, contracted [=HIV=] while his partner was plain lucky and never did, something for which Clem feels SurvivorGuilt. SubvertedTrope in that both men had been lovers for a long time and their love and relationship are depicted in a very positive light. Later on, Taylor returns as a ghost and reunites with Clem. At the end of the story, after the Reconciliation of all five realms, when all the souls of the dead of Earth and the other four Dominions are free to travel on to... somewhere else, before he departs Taylor asks his lover not to forget him but to go on with his life.
* In ''Tout contre Leo'' (''Close to Leo''), Leo is very young, gay and dying of AIDS. The book is told from the point of view of his little brother Marcel.
* Given that it's about AIDS in the gay population in the eighties, ''Series/NeverWipeTearsWithoutGloves'', obviously.
* ''Literature/TheLineOfBeauty'' is set as the AIDS crisis emerges, and the disease figures heavily into the characters' arcs. Leo, a boyfriend of Nick's, dies from the disease before the third act, and Wani, who is gay and closeted, [[spoiler:ends the novel wasting away because of it and will likely die soon. Nick muses that his own HIV test will likely come up positive as well]].
* ''Literature/TellTheWolvesImHome'': June's beloved uncle Finn dies because of AIDS as the novel starts, and much of the book is centered around his lover Toby, who is similarly suffering from the disease. [[spoiler:Toby deteriorates rapidly near the end of the novel and dies, much to June's heartbreak.]]
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[[folder:Live-Action Film]]

->''Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmare?"''

* ''Holding the Man (2015)'', an Australian movie adaptation of a memoir with the same name depicts a gay couple Tim and John's love life, which ends in John dying of AIDS and Tim following suit few years later, ten days after he finished his memoir in October 6th 1994. Both the book and the movie adaptation didn't hold back in describing/showing John's deteriorating progression of the disease and Tim's turmoil and anguish of it.

* In ''Film/{{Philadephia}}'', Andrew Beckett dies of AIDS. However, his lover Miguel lives and, it is specifically noted, has not been infected with AIDS.

* In ''Philadephia'', Andrew Beckett dies of AIDS. However, his lover Miguel lives and, it is specifically noted, has not been infected with AIDS.

A lot of characters who end up with this line of treatment are gay, usually gay men, but that's not always the case.

Being diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which can develop into Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), [[ValuesDissonance formally know as GRIDs]] (Gay-related Immunodeficiency [syndrome]), used to be a death sentence. It pretty much is in media, with GLAAD consistently reporting none or barely a handful characters living with AIDS or being HIV-positive.