The Helms AIDS Amendments were a series of amendments to United States Congressional bills that US Senator

Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ...

introduced, starting in 1987, that prohibited the use of federal funding for any

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

educational materials that would "promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities". Helms introduced the first and best-known of these amendments in 1987 to an AIDS

appropriations bill An appropriation, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature is ne ...

, but also continued to offer the same amendment to subsequent appropriations bills. The 1987 bill, with the Helms amendment attached, passed the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

by a 94–2 vote, and the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

358–47. President Ronald Reagan was an enthusiastic supporter of the amendment and signed the amended bill into law.

Background

In the early days of the AIDS crisis in the United States, a non-profit group called the

Gay Men's Health Crisis The GMHC (formerly Gay Men's Health Crisis) is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected." Hist ...

was publishing and distributing pamphlets as part of their efforts to educate the public about AIDS. In October 1987, Senator Helms walked into the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped ro ...

carrying a GMHC pamphlet that he wanted to show President Reagan. The pamphlet was part of GMHC's Safer Sex Comix series and featured two gay men that had safe sex after a gym workout. One caption read: "What happens when Ed, all-star jock stud, meets dark pumpboy, Julio? After the gym, the real workout starts." Helms showed the book to Reagan, who "looked at a couple of pages, closed it up and shook his head, and hit his desk with his fist." Helms also informed the president that GMHC had received over $600,000 in federal funds, but did not mention that GMHC carefully segregated its funding into public and private activities. Public money went to activities acceptable to the government, while more controversial projects, such as the Safer Sex Comix series, were paid for by money from private sources.

Passage

Knowing he had Reagan's support, Helms delivered a Senate speech on October 14, 1987, in which he proclaimed, "Every Christian ethic cries out for me to do something." Helms attached an amendment to the spending bill barring the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

from using funds for anti-AIDS campaigns that "promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities." The amended spending bill passed in the Senate by a 94 to 2 vote. Many senators, having already voted for the spending bill without the amendment, did not change their votes because they did not want to risk being portrayed by Helms as being in favor of homosexuality. The bill passed the House by a similarly lopsided margin of 358–47.

Legacy

As late as 2002, Helms continued to claim that the "homosexual lifestyle" was the cause of the spread of

AIDS in the United States The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexua ...

, and he remained opposed to spending money on AIDS research.

References

{{reflist 100th United States Congress Presidency of Ronald Reagan HIV/AIDS in the United States Jesse Helms LGBT law in the United States

Background

Passage

Legacy

See also

References