The state theorized this unwanted insistence on appropriate treatment as an act of violation, calling it “disorderly conduct” instead of resistance, an illegality to be punished and stigmatized. They shunned people with AIDS and therefore did not hear what they had to say to about how they were being treated. As a result, thousands of arrests took place of people trying to save lives, many of whom fought passionately until the day they died. In other words, it was the mistreatment and shunning of people with HIV that produced their illegality.
