Graphic Shows The Extermination of a Generation of Mostly Queer Americans

I visit various colleges across the state to discuss HIV on a regular basis. One of the things that stuns me, is how difficult it is for so many college age students to grasp the overwhelming crisis that AIDS was in the late 80s and early 90s. The concept of their friends being their one week, and dead the next, is simply alien to them. In some ways, that is good news. In other ways, however, it is a troubling reminder of just how poorly we have faced the history of the AIDS epidemic and the neglect that gave it birth. 

Enter Bloomberg News. Matthew C. Klein published this stunning review of "How Americans Die." It plots deaths and death rates by age and gender, comparing diseases and other issues. But right there, in stunning color, is the graph showing the extermination of a generation of Americans, mostly queer Americans. 

Take a look. It is incredibly stunning.