In 1992, Mary Fisher gave a speech to the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas, entitled “A Whisper of AIDS”. In this speech, Mary Fisher shouted out to a nation that was allowing AIDS, the enemy, to win because of prejudice and politics. Mary Fisher wanted to “lift the shroud of silence” (Fisher) against the AIDS epidemic, by reminding her audience that AIDS does not discriminate and neither should we. With her powerful and moving speech, she accomplished this by using statistics and facts, asking her audience to set aside their political differences, appealing to the audience’s emotions and humanity, and motivating the nation to make a change. Who was Mary Fisher and why did she make such an impact on the Republican National Convention? Mary
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She made several references to her friends and family, her parents, her children and the outpouring of support she received from friends and family. She felt that she was given that support because of who she was and who she knew. But she made a plea to everyone to not discriminate against any one person who contracted HIV/AIDS. She tried to tug at her audience’s heartstrings by mentioning that infants, teenagers, and people of any age could be affected. She talked about her two sons who had been affected by their mother contracting HIV and the possibility of her dying and leaving them alone. In doing so, she made the fight more real and brought it close to home. One of the strongest arguments that Mary Fisher made was a plea to our humanity. Ms. Fisher compared the AIDS epidemic and discrimination of AIDS sufferers to the Jewish Holocaust. One of the most compelling parts of her speech was the following quote of Pastor Martin Niemöller, a Protestant German pastor who started out pro-Nazi before eventually being charged with treason and spending seven years in Nazi concentration camps.
She made several references to her friends and family, her parents, her children and the outpouring of support she received from friends and family. She felt that she was given that support because of who she was and who she knew. But she made a plea to everyone to not discriminate against any one person who contracted HIV/AIDS. She tried to tug at her audience’s heartstrings by mentioning that infants, teenagers, and people of any age could be affected. She talked about her two sons who had been affected by their mother contracting HIV and the possibility of her dying and leaving them alone. In doing so, she made the fight more real and brought it close to home. One of the strongest arguments that Mary Fisher made was a plea to our humanity. Ms. Fisher compared the AIDS epidemic and discrimination of AIDS sufferers to the Jewish Holocaust. One of the most compelling parts of her speech was the following quote of Pastor Martin Niemöller, a Protestant German pastor who started out pro-Nazi before eventually being charged with treason and spending seven years in Nazi concentration camps.