Hold on a goddamn second. In the entirety of the Resident Evil fanworks on ao3(47,586 of them), only FIVE OF THEM MENTION HIV/AIDS??? THE HEALTH CRISIS AMONG (predominantly) GAY MEN THAT STARTED IN 1981 AND CONTINUED STRONG UNTIL ~2010???(which isn't to say it stopped in 2010, that was only the general time when things started to get better. There are HIV/AIDS treatments now, but still no cure.)
THE DISEASE THAT KILLED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN AMERICA ALONE???
THE DISEASE THAT INCITED THE SUFFERING AND HEARTBREAK OF MILLIONS???
THE DISEASE THAT MADE DOCTORS TURN AWAY AND NEGLECT PATIENTS???
THE DISEASE THAT ALLOWED OTHER PEOPLE TO ERASE ENTIRE LIVES AFTER THEY DIED BECAUSE THEIR PARTNERS HELD NO LEGAL PRECEDENT AND THEY DIDN'T APPROVE OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONS???
THE EVENT THAT PUT THE L AT THE FRONT OF LGBTQ+ BECAUSE THE LESBIANS KEPT THE GAY MEN ALIVE BY DONATING BLOOD AND TAKING CARE OF THEM WHEN OTHERS WOULDN'T???
THE ORIGIN OF THE UNFINISHED PAINTING BY KEITH HARING???
OF ELECTRIC FAN (FEEL IT MOTHERFUCKERS): ONLY UNCLAIMED ITEM FROM THE STEPHEN EARABINO ESTATE BY JOHN S. BOSKOVITCH???
OF "UNTITLED" (PORTRAIT OF ROSS IN L.A.) BY FÉLIX GONZÁLES-TORRES???
THE MASSIVE, WIDESPREAD ISSUE ACROSS AMERICA IN THE VERY TIME PERIOD THAT MOST OF THESE FICS TAKE PLACE IN???
I'm loosing my shit a little here.
This is a good timeline of events about the HIV/AIDS crisis(1981-2025). As well, a timeline about the fight to end the HIV/AIDS crisis (2019-2025). hiv.gov has many other resources about HIV/AIDS as well. If anybody has other good resources about the HIV/AIDS crisis, or HIV/AIDS in general (Stories, health effects, social effects, global impacts, anything) I encourage you to share it here.
Fanfiction writers, I implore you to educate yourselves and learn more about it, especially if you enjoy any sort of queer involvement in your writing. You don't need to include it in your stories, I understand that it's a complicated issue, but please try to learn about it and process queer history, especially of you're writing these fics in this time.