Afraid of AIDS: AIDS Panic and Gay Discrimination through State of Indiana v. Herb Robbins

Abstract

In 1988 Herb J. Robbins, a 17-year-old male prostitute, murdered prominent Indianapolis attorney Donald L. Jackson. Robbins then used a “fear of AIDS” defense in court to escape murder charges. This defense highlighted the discrimination faced by gay men and the heightened fear of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) then a little-understood disease. This story fits into larger discussions about AIDS and our cultural and governmental response to it. For Indiana’s population in the 1980s, a fear of AIDS meant a fear of gay men, as gay men were the first people identified with AIDS – in 1981 and 1982 AIDS was known as GRID: gay-related immunodeficiency disease. This opened the door for discrimination in all facets of society – including in the courts – leading to the successful ‘fear of AIDS’ defense in 1988. That ingrained discrimination has had lasting effects on Indiana’s residents and especially on its gay communities including, but not limited to, the criminalization of persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 1985, many states, including Indiana responded to HIV in the blood supply by closing blood banks and passing laws making it illegal for people with HIV/AIDS to donate. The Food and Drug Administration, as well, banned gay or bisexual men from donating blood for fear they might have HIV/AIDS. Indiana also passed a law requiring people with HIV to notify any potential sexual partner about their HIV positive status. The laws criminalizing people living with HIV were created in direct response to a fear of AIDS in the blood supply, which was only amplified by Ryan White’s infamous story. Connecting gay and bisexual men in Indiana’s HIV laws and the FDA’s policy on HIV/AIDS only further stigmatized gay men and people living with HIV by associating them with criminal activity, including the criminalization of Donald Jackson when Herb Robbins testified that he killed Jackson for fear he could have gotten AIDS from him. This paper seeks to understand 1) Why was Indianapolis a place where this “fear of AIDS” defense could succeed? and 2) How does this defense reflect broader discrimination and stigmatization directed toward the gay community?