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Wikipedia

ACT UP

March 06, 2023

For the City Girls song, see Act Up (song).

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.[1][2][3]

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AbbreviationACT UP
FormationMarch 12, 1987
PurposeHIV/AIDS
Key people
Larry Kramer
AffiliationsActUp/RI
Websiteactupny.com

ACT UP was formed on March 12, 1987, at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City.[4] Larry Kramer was asked to speak as part of a rotating speaker series, and his well-attended speech focused on action to fight AIDS. Kramer spoke out against the current state of the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which he perceived as politically impotent.[5] Kramer had co-founded the GMHC but had resigned from its board of directors in 1983. According to Douglas Crimp, Kramer posed a question to the audience: "Do we want to start a new organization devoted to political action?" The answer was "a resounding yes." Approximately 300 people met two days later to form ACT UP.[2]

At the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, in October 1987, ACT UP New York made their debut on the national stage, as an active and visible presence in both the march, the main rally, and at the civil disobedience at the United States Supreme Court Building the following day.[2][6] Inspired by this new approach to radical, direct action, other participants in these events returned home to multiple cities and formed local ACT UP chapters in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and other locations.[2][6][7] ACT UP spread internationally. In many countries separate movements arose based on the American model. For example, the famous gay rights activist Rosa von Praunheim co-founded ACT UP in Germany.

ACT UP New York actions

 
"Silence=Death" poster

Much of the documentation chronicling ACT UP's history is drawn from Douglas Crimp's history of ACT UP, the ACT UP Oral History Project,[8] and the online Capsule History of ACT UP, New York.[9]

Wall Street

On March 24, 1987, 250 ACT UP members demonstrated at Wall Street and Broadway to demand greater access to experimental AIDS drugs and for a coordinated national policy to fight the disease.[10] An op-ed article by Larry Kramer published in The New York Times the previous day described some of the issues ACT UP was concerned with.[11] Seventeen ACT UP members were arrested during this civil disobedience.[12]

On March 24, 1988, ACT UP returned to Wall Street for a larger demonstration in which over 100 people were arrested.[13]

On September 14, 1989, seven ACT UP members infiltrated the New York Stock Exchange and chained themselves to the VIP balcony to protest the high price of the only approved AIDS drug, AZT. The group displayed a banner that read, "SELL WELLCOME" referring to the pharmaceutical sponsor of AZT, Burroughs Wellcome, which had set a price of approximately $10,000 per patient per year for the drug, well out of reach of nearly all HIV positive persons. Several days following this demonstration, Burroughs Wellcome lowered the price of AZT to $6,400 per patient per year.[14]

General Post Office

ACT UP held their next action at the New York City General Post Office on the night of April 15, 1987, to an audience of people filing last minute tax returns. This event also marked the beginning of the conflation of ACT UP with the Silence=Death Project, which created a poster consisting of a right side up pink triangle (an upside-down pink triangle was used to mark gays in Nazi concentration camps) on a black background with the text "SILENCE = DEATH." Douglas Crimp said this demonstration showed the "media savvy" of ACT UP because the television media "routinely do stories about down-to-the-wire tax return filers." As such, ACT UP was virtually guaranteed media coverage.[2]

Cosmopolitan magazine

In January 1988, Cosmopolitan magazine published an article by Robert E. Gould, a psychiatrist, entitled "Reassuring News About AIDS: A Doctor Tells Why You May Not Be At Risk."[2] The main contention of the article was that in unprotected vaginal sex between a man and a woman who both had "healthy genitals" the risk of HIV transmission was negligible, even if the male partner was infected. Women from ACT UP who had been having informal "dyke dinners" met with Dr. Gould in person, questioning him about several misleading facts (that penis to vagina transmission is impossible, for example) and questionable journalistic methods (no peer review, bibliographic information, failing to disclose that he was a psychiatrist and not a practitioner of internal medicine), and demanded a retraction and apology.[15] When he refused, in the words of Maria Maggenti, they decided that they "had to shut down Cosmo." According to those who were involved in organizing the action, it was significant in that it was the first time the women in ACT UP organized separately from the main body of the group.[16] Additionally, filming the action itself, the preparation and the aftermath were all consciously planned and resulted in a video short directed by Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti, titled, "Doctor, Liars, and Women: AIDS Activists Say No To Cosmo." The action consisted of approximately 150 activists protesting in front of the Hearst Building (parent company of Cosmopolitan) chanting "Say no to Cosmo!" and holding signs with slogans such as "Yes, the Cosmo Girl CAN get AIDS!"[2] Although the action did not result in any arrests, it brought significant television media attention to the controversy surrounding the article. Phil Donahue, Nightline, and a local talk show called "People Are Talking" all hosted discussions of the article. On the latter, two women, Chris Norwood and Denise Ribble took the stage after the host, Richard Bey, cut Norwood off during an exchange about whether heterosexual women are at risk from AIDS.[17] Footage from all of these media appearances was edited into "Doctors, Liars, and Women." Cosmopolitan eventually issued a partial retraction of the contents of the article.[15]

Women and the CDC'S AIDS Definition

Following their participation in the Cosmopolitan protest, ACT UP's Women's Caucus targeted the Center for Disease Control for its narrow definition of what constituted HIV/AIDS. While causes of HIV transmission, like unprotected vaginal or anal sex, were similar among both men and women, the symptoms of the virus varied greatly. As historian Jennifer Brier noted, "for men, full-blown AIDS often caused Kaposi's sarcoma, while women experienced bacterial pneumonia, pelvic inflammatory disease, and cervical cancer." Since the CDC's definition did not account for such symptoms as a result of AIDS, American women in the 1980s were often diagnosed with AIDS Related Complex (or ARC) or HIV. "In this process," Brier explained, "these women effectively were denied the Social Security benefits that men with AIDS had fought hard to secure, and won, in the late 1980s."[18] In October 1990, attorney Theresa McGovern filed suit representing 19 New Yorkers who claimed they were unfairly denied disability benefits because of the CDC's narrow definition of AIDS. At an October 2, 1990, protest to raise attention for McGovern's lawsuit, two hundred ACT UP protesters gathered in Washington and chanted "How many more have to die before you say they qualify," and carried posters to the rally with the tagline "Women Don't Get AIDS/ They Just Die From It."[19] The CDC's initial reaction to calls of the revising the AIDS definition included setting the threshold of AIDS for both men and women at a T cell count of under 200. However, McGovern dismissed this suggestion. "Lots of women who show up at hospitals don't get T cells taken. No one knows they have HIV. I knew how many of our clients were dying of AIDS and not counted." Rather, McGovern, along with the ACLU and the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, called for adding fifteen conditions to the list of the CDC's surveillance case definition, which was eventually adopted in January 1993. Six months later, the Clinton administration revised federal criteria for evaluating HIV status and making it easier for women with AIDS to secure Social Security benefits.[20] The Women's Caucus's role in altering the CDC's definition helped to not only drastically increase availability of federal benefits to American women, but helped uncover a more accurate number of HIV/AIDS infected women in the United States; "under the new model, the number of women with AIDS in the United States increased almost 50 percent."[19]

Members of the ACT UP Women's Caucus collectively authored a handbook for two teach-ins held prior to the 1989 CDC demonstration, where ACT UP members learned about issues motivating the action. The handbook, edited by Maria Maggenti, formed the basis for the ACT UP/New York Women and AIDS Book Group's book titled Women, AIDS and Activism, edited by Cynthia Chris and Monica Pearl, and assembled by Marion Banzhaf, Kim Christensen, Alexis Danzig, Risa Denenberg, Zoe Leonard, Deb Levine, Rachel (Sam) Lurie, Catherine Saalfield (Gund), Polly Thistlethwaite, Judith Walker, and Brigitte Weil.[21] The book was published in Spanish in 1993 titled La Mujer, el SIDA, y el Activismo.[22] Members of the original Women and AIDS Handbook Group included Amy (Jamie) Bauer, Heidi Dorow, Ellen Neipris, Ann Northrop, Sydney Pokorney, Karen Ramspacher, Maxine Wolfe, and Brian Zabcik.[citation needed]

FDA

On October 11, 1988, ACT UP had one of its most successful demonstrations (both in terms of size and in terms of national media coverage) when it successfully shut down the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for a day.[23][24] Media reported that it was the largest such demonstration since demonstrations against the Vietnam War.[citation needed]

The AIDS activists shut down the large facility by blocking doors, walkways and a road as FDA workers reported to work. Police told some workers to go home rather than wade through the throng.

"Hey, hey, FDA, how many people have you killed today?" chanted the crowd, estimated by protest organizers at between 1,100 and 1,500. The protesters hoisted a black banner that read "Federal Death Administration."

Police officers, wearing surgical gloves and helmets, started rounding up the hundreds of demonstrators and herding them into buses shortly after 8:30 a.m. Some protesters blocked the buses from leaving for 20 minutes.

Authorities arrested at least 120 protesters, and demonstration leaders said they were aiming for 300 arrests by day's end.[23]

Among the protestors was artist David Wojnarowicz, then HIV/AIDS positive, wearing painted jean jacket that read: "If I die of AIDS—forget burial—just drop my body on the steps of the F.D.A."— a nascent meme.[25] At this action, activists demonstrated their thorough knowledge of the FDA drug approval process. ACT UP presented precise demands for changes that would make experimental drugs available more quickly, and more fairly. "The success of SEIZE CONTROL OF THE FDA can perhaps best be measured by what ensued in the year following the action. Government agencies dealing with AIDS, particularly the FDA and NIH, began to listen to us, to include us in decision-making, even to ask for our input."[24]

"Stop the Church"

Main article: Stop the Church
See also: Anti-Catholicism in the United States

ACT UP disagreed with Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese's public stand against safe sex education in New York City Public Schools, condom distribution, the Cardinal's public condemnation of homosexuality, as well as the Church's opposition to abortion. This led to the first Stop the Church protest on December 10, 1989, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.[9][26][27][28]

Originally, the plan was just to be a "die-in" during the homily but it descended into "pandemonium."[26] A few dozen activists interrupted Mass, chanted slogans, blew whistles, "kept up a banchee screech," chained themselves to pews, threw condoms in the air, waved their fists, and lay down in the aisles to stage a "die-in."[29][30][31][26][32] While O'Connor went on with mass, activists stood up and announced why they were protesting.[28] One protester, "in a gesture large enough for all to see,"[33] desecrated the Eucharist by spitting it out of his mouth, crumbling it into pieces, and dropping them to the floor.[34][35][9][29][36][37][32][excessive citations]

One hundred and eleven protesters were arrested, including 43 inside the church.[38] Some who refused to move had to be carried out of the church on stretchers.[26] The protests were widely condemned by public and church officials, members of the public, the mainstream media, and some in the gay community.[37]

Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center

In the 1980s, as the gay population of Greenwich Village and New York began succumbing to the AIDS virus, Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center established the first AIDS Ward on the East Coast and second only to one in San Francisco, and soon became "Ground Zero" for the AIDS-afflicted in NYC.[39] The hospital "became synonymous" with care for AIDS patients in the 1980s, particularly poor gay men and drug users.[40] It became one of the best hospitals in the state for AIDS care with a large research facility and dozens of doctors and nurses working on it.[40]

ACT UP protested the hospital one night in the 1980s due to its Catholic nature.[40] They took over the emergency room and covered crucifixes with condoms.[40] Their intent was both to raise awareness and offend Catholics.[40] Instead of pressing charges, the sisters who ran the hospital decided to meet with the protesters to better understand their concerns.[40]

Storm the NIH

On May 21, 1990, around 1000 ACT UP members initiated a choreographed demonstration at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, splitting into sub-groups across the campus. The protest was in part directed at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and its director, Anthony Fauci. Activists were angered by what they felt was slow progress on promised research and treatment efforts.[41] According to Kramer, this was their best demonstration, but was almost completely ignored by the media because of a large fire in Washington, D.C., on the same day.[citation needed]

Day of Desperation

On January 22, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, ACT UP activist John Weir and two other activists entered the studio of the CBS Evening News at the beginning of the broadcast. They shouted "AIDS is news. Fight AIDS, not Arabs!" and Weir stepped in front of the camera before the control room cut to a commercial break. The same night ACT UP demonstrated at the studios of the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. The next day activists displayed banners in Grand Central Terminal that said "Money for AIDS, not for war" and "One AIDS death every 8 minutes." One of the banners was handheld and displayed across the train timetable and the other attached to bundles of balloons that lifted it up to the ceiling of the station's enormous main room. These actions were part of a coordinated protest called "Day of Desperation."[42]

Seattle schools

In December 1991, ACT UP's Seattle chapter distributed over 500 safer-sex packets outside Seattle high schools. The packets contained a pamphlet titled "How to Fuck Safely," which was photographically illustrated and included two men performing fellatio. The Washington state legislature subsequently passed a "Harmful to Minors" law making it illegal to distribute sexually explicit material to underage persons.[43]

Macy's Herald Square

On November 29, 1991, the Black Friday shopping day, ACT UP activists dressed in Santa Claus costumes chained themselves inside Macy's flagship Herald Square department store to protest the store's decision not to rehire an HIV-positive Santa, Mark Woodley. They sang protest Christmas songs with lyrics such as, "Santa Claus has HIV, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la/Macy's won't rehire he, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la." Nineteen activists were arrested at the action.[44][45]

Boston and New England

"In January 1988, [ACT UP/Boston] held its first protest at the Boston offices of the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding delays and red tape surrounding approval of AIDS treatment drugs. ACT UP/Boston's agenda included demands for a compassionate and comprehensive national policy on AIDS; a national emergency AIDS project; intensified drug testing, research, and treatment efforts; and a full-scale national educational program within reach of all. The organization held die-ins and sleep-ins, provided freshman orientation for Harvard Medical School students, negotiated successfully with a major pharmaceutical corporation, affected state and national AIDS policies, pressured health care insurers to provide coverage for people with AIDS, influenced the thinking of some of the nation's most influential researchers, served on the Massachusetts committee that created the nation's first online registry of clinical trials for AIDS treatments, distributed information and condoms to the congregation at Cardinal Bernard Francis Law's Confirmation Sunday services at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, and made aerosolized pentamidine an accessible treatment in New England."[7]

In February 1988 ACT UP Boston, in collaboration with ACT UP New York, Mass ACT OUT, and Cure Aids Now demonstrated at both the Democratic and Republican presidential debates and primaries in New Hampshire, and at other events during the presidential race.[46]

During an ordination of priests in Boston in 1990, ACT UP and the Massachusetts Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights chanted and protested outside during the service.[47][48][49] The protesters marched, chanted, blew whistles, and sounded airhorns to disrupt the ceremony.[47] They also threw condoms at people as they left the ordination and were forced to stay back behind police and police barricades.[47] One man was arrested.[50] The demonstration was condemned by Leonard P. Zakim, among others.[50]

Los Angeles

ACT UP Los Angeles (ACT UP/LA) was founded December 4, 1987, and continued holding demonstrations until the early 2000s. During their run they tackled healthcare access, political issues related to LGBTQ civil rights, and supported national ACT UP campaigns.[51]

Some of their more local work focused on policy regarding the migration of HIV-positive people into the U.S., pushing for AIDS clinical trials, promoting needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users, and surveying speaking out against discrimination by health care and insurance providers.[52] They were effective in distributing their research on Antiviral Therapy (AZT), local and international actions, and updates on the different caucuses through their ACT UP/LA newsletter. The newsletter also served as both an educational outreach and fundraising tool.[citation needed]

Memorable actions by ACT UP/LA are the protests and demonstrations in county-based locations such as the USC county hospital, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.[53] ACT UP/LA and about fifteen other organizations formed an "Alternative Budget Coalition," rented the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' meeting room, and held a mock hearing on the county's $10+ billion budget, saying it spent too little on fighting AIDS.[54] Prominent activists in this period included Connie Norman, one of the people who led ACT UP's push for a bill (AB101) to protect workers from being fired because of their sexuality, California governor Pete Wilson's veto of which led to the AB101 Veto Riot.[55] ACT UP/LA and its associated Women's Caucus put on a “Week of Outrage” in conjunction with the national organization, which consisted of demonstrations, a teach-in, safe-sex vending event.[56]

Women's Caucus ACT UP/LA

The Women's Caucus (WC) of ACT UP/LA served an important collaboration between men and women who were being affected by HIV and AIDS.[57] WC within the ACT UP/LA organization was unique because in this chapter they had a significant amount of control over how they included women's issues into the organizations larger gay male actions. Men were present in the WC, but only as allies, which harvested a collaboration for effective actions, rallies, and any acts of resistance for the whole organization as a whole.[58] While the collaboration was not always perfect, at the end it created a stronger force against discrimination of HIV+ people in Los Angeles.[59]

Some of the work that the WC did was distribute statistical information about women who are HIV+, the lack of appropriate screening and health care access, information about safer sex practices (in English and Spanish), as well as acts of action to push for better. Lauren Leary was an integral in the organization because her worked revolved around gathering existing research about HIV and AIDS in women and men and current treatment options. An ACT UP national collective of women came together to create the “Women's Treatment and Research Agenda” in 1991.[57]

Washington D.C.

Giant condom over Senator's home

Peter Staley and other activists affiliated with ACT-UP wrapped the Arlington, Virginia home of Senator Jesse Helms in a 15-foot condom on September 5, 1991. The protest condemned the Helms AIDS Amendments, which continued to block funding for education, as well as his ongoing opposition to People With AIDS, including numerous homophobic falsehoods about HIV and AIDS. Helms had actively passed laws stigmatizing the disease, and his staunch attempts to block federal funding for, and education about, HIV and AIDS had significantly increased the death toll. Some of the harmful legislation he enacted is still in place.[60] The condom was inflated and the message on it read: "A CONDOM TO PREVENT UNSAFE POLITICS. HELMS IS DEADLIER THAN A VIRUS." The event was captured live on the news.[61] This was the first action of the affinity ACT group TAG (Treatment Action Guerillas).[62] While the police were called, no one was arrested, and the group was allowed to take the condom down, though they did receive a parking ticket.[62][60] The event was dramatized, with fictionalized characters, in a 2019 episode of the FX television series POSE.[63]

Ashes Actions

In October 1992 and October 1996, during displays of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and just before presidential elections, ACT UP activists held two Ashes Actions.[64] Inspired by a passage in David Wojnarowicz's 1991 memoir Close to the Knives, these actions scattered the ashes of people who had died of AIDS, including Wojnarowicz and activist Connie Norman, on the White House lawn, in protest of the federal government's inadequate response to AIDS.[64]

Canada

Vancouver

Formed in 1989, ACT UP Vancouver began at a public meeting to determine how to respond to the government’s inaction on the AIDS crisis,[65] and focused their activism on the provincial political crises surrounding AIDS.[66] They organized and participated in various protests, including the Les Misérables demonstration to protest then provincial Prime Minister Bill Vander Zalm, which brought together a diverse range of activist groups.[67] Despite its impact, the organization eventually dissolved around 1991, following their State of the Province protest.[68] They stated their dissolution was not due to a lack of commitment from members, but rather a lack of expertise and negative press stemming from arrests, which led to other organizations distancing themselves from ACT UP.[69] One of the arrested members, John Kozachenko, was accused of vehicle damage, though he asserted his innocence and the charges were later dropped.[70] Members felt the incident interfered with the groups's ability to initiate reforms in conservative Vancouver.[71]

Montreal

The AIDS crisis in Montreal was very pronounced and is often underrepresented in discussion about the pandemic. ACT UP worked to end the AIDS pandemic and to combat the extreme homophobia that gay men faced as a result of stigma and stereotypes. ACT UP NYC protested the Fifth International AIDS Conference in 1989 and inspired the creation of ACT UP MTL. They also confronted Montreal prisons about their high rates of HIV, which they suggested were due to condoms not being available to prisoners.[72]

ACT UP MTL was formed in March of 1990. Despite discouragement by the provincial government and Minister of Health, who felt that public information about AIDS prevention would encourage homosexuality and drug use, ACT UP MTL was responsible for translating English AIDS prevention resources into French and creating their own informational flyers that were accessible to Quebec's Francophone population. The chapter was also responsible for several demonstrations in a Montreal city park to raise awareness about those living with AIDS and those lost to HIV/AIDS complications. In 1994, the park was officially named Le Parc de l’Espoir and an AIDS memorial monument was constructed.[73]

Structure of ACT UP

 
ACT UP protests in New York City against Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill

ACT UP was organized as effectively leaderless; there was a formal committee structure. Bill Bahlman recalls there were initially two main committees. There was the Issues Committee that scrupulously studied the issues surrounding an advancement the group wanted to achieve and the Actions Committee that would plan a Zap or Demonstration to achieve that particular goal. This was intentional on Larry Kramer's part: he describes it as "democratic to a fault."[11] It followed a committee structure with each committee reporting to a coordinating committee meeting once a week. Actions and proposals were generally brought to the coordinating committee and then to the floor for a vote, but this wasn't required - any motion could be brought to a vote at any time.[16] Gregg Bordowitz, an early member, said of the process:

This is how grassroots, democratic politics work. To a certain extent, this is how democratic politics is supposed to work in general. You convince people of the validity of your ideas. You have to go out there and convince people.[74]

This is not to say that it was in practice purely anarchic or democratic. Bordowitz and others admit that certain people were able to communicate and defend their ideas more effectively than others. Although Larry Kramer is often labeled the first "leader" of ACT UP, as the group matured, those people that regularly attended meetings and made their voice heard became conduits through which smaller "affinity groups" would present and organize their ideas. Leadership changed hands frequently and suddenly.[74]

  • Some of the Committees were:[citation needed]
    • Issues Committee
    • Action Committee
    • Finance Committee
    • Outreach Committee
    • Treatment and Data Committee
    • Media Committee
    • Graphics Committee
    • Housing Committee

Note: As ACT UP had no formal organizing plan, the titles of these committees are somewhat variable and some members remember them differently than others.

In addition to Committees, there were also Caucuses, bodies set up by members of particular communities to create space to pursue their needs. Among those active in the late 1980s and/or early 1990s were the Women's Caucus (sometimes referred to as the Women's Committee)[75] and the Latino/Latina Caucus.[76]

Along with committees and caucuses, ACT UP New York relied heavily on "affinity groups." These groups often had no formal structure, but were centered on specific advocacy issues and personal connections, often within larger committees. Affinity groups supported overall solidarity in larger, more complex political actions through the mutual support provided to members of the group. Affinity groups often organized to perform smaller actions within the scope of a larger political action, such as the "Day of Desperation," when the Needle Exchange group presented NY City Health Department officials with thousands of used syringes they had collected through their exchange (contained in water cooler bottles).[citation needed]

Gran Fury

Gran Fury functioned as the anonymous art collective that produced all of the artistic media for ACT UP. The group remained anonymous because it allowed the collective to function as a cohesive unit without any one voice being singled out. The mission of the group was to bring an end to the AIDS Crisis by making reference to the issues plaguing society at large, especially homophobia and the lack of public investment in the AIDS epidemic, through bringing art works into the public sphere in order to reach the maximum audience. The group often faced censorship in their proceedings, including being rejected for public billboard space and being threatened with censorship in art exhibitions. When faced with this censorship, Gran Fury often posted their work illegally on the walls of the streets.[77]

DIVA-TV

DIVA-TV, an acronym for "Damned Interfering Video Activist Television," was an affinity group within ACT UP that videotaped and documented AIDS activism. Its founding members are Catherine Gund, Ray Navarro, Ellen Spiro, Gregg Bordowitz, Robert Beck, Costa Pappas, Jean Carlomusto, Rob Kurilla, George Plagianos.[78] One of their early works is "Like a Prayer" (1991), documenting the 1989 ACT UP protests at St. Patrick's Cathedral against New York Cardinal O'Connor's position on AIDS and contraception. In the video, Ray Navarro, an ACT UP/DIVA TV activist,[79] serves as the narrator, dressed up as Jesus. The documentary aims to show mass media bias as it juxtaposes original protest footage with those images shown on the nightly news.

Although less as a "collective" after 1990, DIVA TV continued documenting (over 700 camera hours) the direct actions of ACT UP, activists, and the community responses to HIV/AIDS, producing over 160 video programs for public access television channels - as the weekly series "AIDS Community Television" from 1991 to 1996[80] and from 1994 to 96 the weekly call-in public access series "ACT UP Live"; film festival screenings; and continuing on-line documentation and streaming internet webcasts. The video activism of DIVA TV ultimately switched media in 1997 with the establishing and continuing development of the ACT UP (New York) website. The most recent DIVA TV-genre video program documenting the history and activism of ACT UP (New York) is the feature-length documentary: "Fight Back, Fight AIDS: 15 Years of ACT UP" (2002), screened at the Berlin Film Festival and exhibited worldwide. DIVA TV programs and camera-original videotapes are currently re-mastered, archived and preserved, and publicly accessible in the collection of the "AIDS Video Activist Video Preservation Project" at the New York Public Library.[81]

Institutional independence

ACT UP had an early debate about whether to register the organization as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in order to allow contributors tax exemptions. Eventually they decided against it, because as Maria Maggenti said, "they didn't want to have anything to do with the government."[15] This kind of uncompromising ethos characterized the group in its early stages;[editorializing] eventually it led to a split between those in the group who wanted to remain wholly independent and those who saw opportunities for compromise and progress by "going inside [the institutions and systems they were fighting against]."[82]

Later years

ACT UP, while extremely prolific and certainly effective at its peak, suffered from extreme internal pressures over the direction of the group and of the AIDS crisis. After the action at NIH, these tensions resulted in an effective severing of the Action Committee and the Treatment and Data Committee, which reformed itself as the Treatment Action Group (TAG).[82][83] Several members describe this as a "severing of the dual nature of ACT UP."

In 2000, ACT UP/Chicago was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.[84]

ACT UP chapters continue to meet and protest, albeit with a smaller membership. ACT UP/NY and ACT UP/Philadelphia are particularly robust, with other chapters active elsewhere.

Housing Works, New York's largest AIDS service organization and Health GAP, which fights to expand treatment for people with AIDS throughout the world, are direct outgrowths of ACT UP.

Factionalism in San Francisco

In 2000, ACT UP/Golden Gate changed its name to Survive AIDS, to avoid confusion with ACT UP/San Francisco (ACT UP/SF). The two had previously split apart in 1990, but continued to share the same essential philosophy. In 1994, ACT UP/SF began rejecting the scientific consensus regarding the cause of AIDS and the connection to HIV, and the two groups became openly hostile to each other, with mainstream gay and AIDS organizations also condemning ACT UP/SF.[85] The group would link up with People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals against animal research into AIDS cures.[85] Restraining orders have been granted after the organization physically attacked AIDS charities that help HIV-positive patients,[86] and activists have been found guilty of misdemeanor charges laid after threatening phone calls to journalists and public health officials.[87]

See also

Organizations

People

Media and Research

References

  1. ^ "ACT UP new york". actupny.org. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Crimp, Douglas. AIDS Demographics. Bay Press, 1990. (Comprehensive early history of ACT UP, discussion of the various signs and symbols used by ACT UP).
  3. ^ Blotcher, Jay (2006). "ACT UP". In Gerstner, David A. (ed.). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture (1 ed.). Routledge. pp. 3–7. ISBN 9780415306515. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  4. ^ Zafir, Lindsay (2019), "Act Up", in Chiang, Howard; Arondekar, Anjali; Epprecht, Marc; Evans, Jennifer (eds.), Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History, vol. 1, Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 1–8
  5. ^ Leland, John (2017-05-19). "Twilight of a Difficult Man: Larry Kramer and the Birth of AIDS Activism (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  6. ^ a b Stein, Marc, "Memories of the 1987 March on Washington" for OutHistory.org, August 2013. Accessed October 11, 2015
  7. ^ a b . Northeastern University Libraries Archives. January 2008. Archived from the original on 2018-05-27. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  8. ^ ACT UP Oral History Project
  9. ^ a b c ACT UP New York: Capsule History, Actupny.org
  10. ^ ACT UP New York: First Demonstration Flyer, Actupny.org
  11. ^ a b Kramer, Larry. Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard. ACTUP Oral History Project. February 16, 2005. MIX: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival. December 11, 2005, Actuporalhistory.org 2017-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ ACT UP New York: Capsule History - 1987, Actupny.org
  13. ^ ACT UP New York: Capsule History - 1988, Actupny.org
  14. ^ ACT UP New York: Capsule History - 1989, Actupny.org
  15. ^ a b c d Maggenti, Maria. Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard. ACTUP Oral History Project. February 16, 2005. MIX: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival. December 11, 2005, Actupralhistory.org 2021-04-23 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ a b Carlomusto, Jean. Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard. ACTUP Oral History Project. February 16, 2005. MIX: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival. December 11, 2005, Actuporalhistory.org 2021-04-23 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Treichler, Paula. How To Have Theory In An Epidemic. Duke University Press, 1999. (Discussion of the Cosmopolitan controversy and media representation)
  18. ^ Brier 2009, p. 173.
  19. ^ a b Brier 2009, p. 174.
  20. ^ Laurence 1997, p. 148-149
  21. ^ Rosenblum, Illith; Maggenti, Maria; ACT UP (Organization) (1989). The ACT UP women's caucus: women and AIDS handbook. New York, N.Y.: AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. OCLC 23144032.
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  23. ^ a b "Police Arrest AIDS Protesters Blocking Access to FDA Offices". Los Angeles Times. 11 October 1988. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
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  29. ^ a b Allen, Peter L. (June 2002), The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present, University of Chicago Press, p. 143, ISBN 978-0-226-01461-6, retrieved July 27, 2018
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  35. ^ "ACTUP Oral History Project, Interviewee: Tom Keane, Interview Number: 176" (PDF). The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival, Inc. February 24, 2015. pp. 20–21. Retrieved August 3, 2018. I put my hands out, and suddenly I have the Communion wafer in my hands, and the priest says, "This is the body of Christ," and I say, "Opposing safe-sex education is murder." Then I sort of—I didn't really know what to do, and I think in some sense, some part of me was sort of saying, "Well, fine. You guys think you can tell us that you reject us, that we don't belong, so I'm going to reject you." So I took it and I crushed it and dropped it.
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Works cited

  • ACT UP/New York Women and AIDS Book Group (1990). "Women, AIDS, and Activism." South End Press.
  • ACT UP/New York Women and AIDS Book Group (1993). "La Mujer, el SIDA, y el Activismo." South End Press.
  • Brier, Jennifer (2009). "Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis." University of North Carolina Press.
  • Laurence, Leslie (1997). "Outrageous Practices: How Gender Bias Threatens Women's Health." Rutgers University Press.
  • Faderman, Lillian (2015). The Gay Revolution. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781451694130.

Further reading

  • ACT UP/Boston (David Stitt) collection, 1986-1994 and the ACT UP / Boston (Raymond Schmidt and Stephen Skuce) collection, 1987-2007 (bulk 1988-1995) are housed at the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.
  • AIDS Activist Videotape Collection, 1983-2000 (630 VHS tapes) is housed at the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.
  • Robert Garcia Papers, 1988-1993 (9 cubic feet) are housed at the Cornell University Library.
  • Women's Action Coalition Records, 1991-1997 (8 linear feet) are housed at the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.
  • ACT UP New York records, 1969, 1982-1997, Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library.
  • Photographs and film regarding ACT UP New York and The Costas, 1987-1991, 2008, Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library.
  • AIDS Activist Videotape Collection at the New York Public Library 2017-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  • Documentary "ACT UP, Fight Back, Fight AIDS: 15 Years of ACT UP" (2002)
  • Documentary, "UNITED IN ANGER: A History of ACT UP" (2012), by Jim Hubbard & Sarah Schulman
  • OutWeek Internet Archive
  • Bill Bytsura ACT UP Photography Collection at The Fales Library & Special Collections of NYU
  • Alan Klein papers at The Fales Library & Special Collections of NYU
  • Jay Blotcher papers at The Fales Library & Special Collections of NYU
  • "The Making of an AIDS Activist: Larry Kramer" and "ACT UP", pp. 162–166, Johansson, Warren and Percy, William A. New York and London: Haworth Press, 1994.
  • "AIDS Assaults Courts Controversy with Andrew Cornell Robinson's Obscene Ceramics", SOWEBO, ACT UP Exhibition, Baltimore, MD. 1991 Group Show & ACT UP benefit courts controversy, Harry Newspaper, Baltimore, MD, July 1991, Vol 2, p. 1
  • Curley, Mallory. A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia, Randy Press, 2010.

External links

  • ACT UP New York
  • Larry Kramer Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

March 06, 2023
city, girls, song, song, aids, coalition, unleash, power, international, grassroots, political, group, working, aids, pandemic, group, works, improve, lives, people, with, aids, through, direct, action, medical, research, treatment, advocacy, working, change, . For the City Girls song see Act Up song AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ACT UP is an international grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action medical research treatment and advocacy and working to change legislation and public policies 1 2 3 AIDS Coalition to Unleash PowerAbbreviationACT UPFormationMarch 12 1987PurposeHIV AIDSKey peopleLarry KramerAffiliationsActUp RIWebsiteactupny wbr comACT UP was formed on March 12 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City 4 Larry Kramer was asked to speak as part of a rotating speaker series and his well attended speech focused on action to fight AIDS Kramer spoke out against the current state of the Gay Men s Health Crisis GMHC which he perceived as politically impotent 5 Kramer had co founded the GMHC but had resigned from its board of directors in 1983 According to Douglas Crimp Kramer posed a question to the audience Do we want to start a new organization devoted to political action The answer was a resounding yes Approximately 300 people met two days later to form ACT UP 2 At the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in October 1987 ACT UP New York made their debut on the national stage as an active and visible presence in both the march the main rally and at the civil disobedience at the United States Supreme Court Building the following day 2 6 Inspired by this new approach to radical direct action other participants in these events returned home to multiple cities and formed local ACT UP chapters in Boston Chicago Los Angeles Rhode Island San Francisco Washington D C and other locations 2 6 7 ACT UP spread internationally In many countries separate movements arose based on the American model For example the famous gay rights activist Rosa von Praunheim co founded ACT UP in Germany Contents 1 ACT UP New York actions 1 1 Wall Street 1 2 General Post Office 1 3 Cosmopolitan magazine 1 4 Women and the CDC S AIDS Definition 1 5 FDA 1 6 Stop the Church 1 7 Saint Vincent s Catholic Medical Center 1 8 Storm the NIH 1 9 Day of Desperation 1 10 Seattle schools 1 11 Macy s Herald Square 2 Boston and New England 3 Los Angeles 3 1 Women s Caucus ACT UP LA 4 Washington D C 4 1 Giant condom over Senator s home 4 2 Ashes Actions 5 Canada 5 1 Vancouver 5 2 Montreal 6 Structure of ACT UP 6 1 Gran Fury 6 2 DIVA TV 6 3 Institutional independence 7 Later years 8 Factionalism in San Francisco 9 See also 10 References 11 Works cited 12 Further reading 13 External linksACT UP New York actions Edit Silence Death poster Much of the documentation chronicling ACT UP s history is drawn from Douglas Crimp s history of ACT UP the ACT UP Oral History Project 8 and the online Capsule History of ACT UP New York 9 Wall Street Edit On March 24 1987 250 ACT UP members demonstrated at Wall Street and Broadway to demand greater access to experimental AIDS drugs and for a coordinated national policy to fight the disease 10 An op ed article by Larry Kramer published in The New York Times the previous day described some of the issues ACT UP was concerned with 11 Seventeen ACT UP members were arrested during this civil disobedience 12 On March 24 1988 ACT UP returned to Wall Street for a larger demonstration in which over 100 people were arrested 13 On September 14 1989 seven ACT UP members infiltrated the New York Stock Exchange and chained themselves to the VIP balcony to protest the high price of the only approved AIDS drug AZT The group displayed a banner that read SELL WELLCOME referring to the pharmaceutical sponsor of AZT Burroughs Wellcome which had set a price of approximately 10 000 per patient per year for the drug well out of reach of nearly all HIV positive persons Several days following this demonstration Burroughs Wellcome lowered the price of AZT to 6 400 per patient per year 14 General Post Office Edit ACT UP held their next action at the New York City General Post Office on the night of April 15 1987 to an audience of people filing last minute tax returns This event also marked the beginning of the conflation of ACT UP with the Silence Death Project which created a poster consisting of a right side up pink triangle an upside down pink triangle was used to mark gays in Nazi concentration camps on a black background with the text SILENCE DEATH Douglas Crimp said this demonstration showed the media savvy of ACT UP because the television media routinely do stories about down to the wire tax return filers As such ACT UP was virtually guaranteed media coverage 2 Cosmopolitan magazine Edit In January 1988 Cosmopolitan magazine published an article by Robert E Gould a psychiatrist entitled Reassuring News About AIDS A Doctor Tells Why You May Not Be At Risk 2 The main contention of the article was that in unprotected vaginal sex between a man and a woman who both had healthy genitals the risk of HIV transmission was negligible even if the male partner was infected Women from ACT UP who had been having informal dyke dinners met with Dr Gould in person questioning him about several misleading facts that penis to vagina transmission is impossible for example and questionable journalistic methods no peer review bibliographic information failing to disclose that he was a psychiatrist and not a practitioner of internal medicine and demanded a retraction and apology 15 When he refused in the words of Maria Maggenti they decided that they had to shut down Cosmo According to those who were involved in organizing the action it was significant in that it was the first time the women in ACT UP organized separately from the main body of the group 16 Additionally filming the action itself the preparation and the aftermath were all consciously planned and resulted in a video short directed by Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti titled Doctor Liars and Women AIDS Activists Say No To Cosmo The action consisted of approximately 150 activists protesting in front of the Hearst Building parent company of Cosmopolitan chanting Say no to Cosmo and holding signs with slogans such as Yes the Cosmo Girl CAN get AIDS 2 Although the action did not result in any arrests it brought significant television media attention to the controversy surrounding the article Phil Donahue Nightline and a local talk show called People Are Talking all hosted discussions of the article On the latter two women Chris Norwood and Denise Ribble took the stage after the host Richard Bey cut Norwood off during an exchange about whether heterosexual women are at risk from AIDS 17 Footage from all of these media appearances was edited into Doctors Liars and Women Cosmopolitan eventually issued a partial retraction of the contents of the article 15 Women and the CDC S AIDS Definition Edit Following their participation in the Cosmopolitan protest ACT UP s Women s Caucus targeted the Center for Disease Control for its narrow definition of what constituted HIV AIDS While causes of HIV transmission like unprotected vaginal or anal sex were similar among both men and women the symptoms of the virus varied greatly As historian Jennifer Brier noted for men full blown AIDS often caused Kaposi s sarcoma while women experienced bacterial pneumonia pelvic inflammatory disease and cervical cancer Since the CDC s definition did not account for such symptoms as a result of AIDS American women in the 1980s were often diagnosed with AIDS Related Complex or ARC or HIV In this process Brier explained these women effectively were denied the Social Security benefits that men with AIDS had fought hard to secure and won in the late 1980s 18 In October 1990 attorney Theresa McGovern filed suit representing 19 New Yorkers who claimed they were unfairly denied disability benefits because of the CDC s narrow definition of AIDS At an October 2 1990 protest to raise attention for McGovern s lawsuit two hundred ACT UP protesters gathered in Washington and chanted How many more have to die before you say they qualify and carried posters to the rally with the tagline Women Don t Get AIDS They Just Die From It 19 The CDC s initial reaction to calls of the revising the AIDS definition included setting the threshold of AIDS for both men and women at a T cell count of under 200 However McGovern dismissed this suggestion Lots of women who show up at hospitals don t get T cells taken No one knows they have HIV I knew how many of our clients were dying of AIDS and not counted Rather McGovern along with the ACLU and the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network called for adding fifteen conditions to the list of the CDC s surveillance case definition which was eventually adopted in January 1993 Six months later the Clinton administration revised federal criteria for evaluating HIV status and making it easier for women with AIDS to secure Social Security benefits 20 The Women s Caucus s role in altering the CDC s definition helped to not only drastically increase availability of federal benefits to American women but helped uncover a more accurate number of HIV AIDS infected women in the United States under the new model the number of women with AIDS in the United States increased almost 50 percent 19 Members of the ACT UP Women s Caucus collectively authored a handbook for two teach ins held prior to the 1989 CDC demonstration where ACT UP members learned about issues motivating the action The handbook edited by Maria Maggenti formed the basis for the ACT UP New York Women and AIDS Book Group s book titled Women AIDS and Activism edited by Cynthia Chris and Monica Pearl and assembled by Marion Banzhaf Kim Christensen Alexis Danzig Risa Denenberg Zoe Leonard Deb Levine Rachel Sam Lurie Catherine Saalfield Gund Polly Thistlethwaite Judith Walker and Brigitte Weil 21 The book was published in Spanish in 1993 titled La Mujer el SIDA y el Activismo 22 Members of the original Women and AIDS Handbook Group included Amy Jamie Bauer Heidi Dorow Ellen Neipris Ann Northrop Sydney Pokorney Karen Ramspacher Maxine Wolfe and Brian Zabcik citation needed FDA Edit On October 11 1988 ACT UP had one of its most successful demonstrations both in terms of size and in terms of national media coverage when it successfully shut down the Food amp Drug Administration FDA for a day 23 24 Media reported that it was the largest such demonstration since demonstrations against the Vietnam War citation needed The AIDS activists shut down the large facility by blocking doors walkways and a road as FDA workers reported to work Police told some workers to go home rather than wade through the throng Hey hey FDA how many people have you killed today chanted the crowd estimated by protest organizers at between 1 100 and 1 500 The protesters hoisted a black banner that read Federal Death Administration Police officers wearing surgical gloves and helmets started rounding up the hundreds of demonstrators and herding them into buses shortly after 8 30 a m Some protesters blocked the buses from leaving for 20 minutes Authorities arrested at least 120 protesters and demonstration leaders said they were aiming for 300 arrests by day s end 23 Among the protestors was artist David Wojnarowicz then HIV AIDS positive wearing painted jean jacket that read If I die of AIDS forget burial just drop my body on the steps of the F D A a nascent meme 25 At this action activists demonstrated their thorough knowledge of the FDA drug approval process ACT UP presented precise demands for changes that would make experimental drugs available more quickly and more fairly The success of SEIZE CONTROL OF THE FDA can perhaps best be measured by what ensued in the year following the action Government agencies dealing with AIDS particularly the FDA and NIH began to listen to us to include us in decision making even to ask for our input 24 Stop the Church Edit Main article Stop the Church See also Anti Catholicism in the United States ACT UP disagreed with Cardinal John Joseph O Connor on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese s public stand against safe sex education in New York City Public Schools condom distribution the Cardinal s public condemnation of homosexuality as well as the Church s opposition to abortion This led to the first Stop the Church protest on December 10 1989 at St Patrick s Cathedral New York 9 26 27 28 Originally the plan was just to be a die in during the homily but it descended into pandemonium 26 A few dozen activists interrupted Mass chanted slogans blew whistles kept up a banchee screech chained themselves to pews threw condoms in the air waved their fists and lay down in the aisles to stage a die in 29 30 31 26 32 While O Connor went on with mass activists stood up and announced why they were protesting 28 One protester in a gesture large enough for all to see 33 desecrated the Eucharist by spitting it out of his mouth crumbling it into pieces and dropping them to the floor 34 35 9 29 36 37 32 excessive citations One hundred and eleven protesters were arrested including 43 inside the church 38 Some who refused to move had to be carried out of the church on stretchers 26 The protests were widely condemned by public and church officials members of the public the mainstream media and some in the gay community 37 Saint Vincent s Catholic Medical Center Edit In the 1980s as the gay population of Greenwich Village and New York began succumbing to the AIDS virus Saint Vincent s Catholic Medical Center established the first AIDS Ward on the East Coast and second only to one in San Francisco and soon became Ground Zero for the AIDS afflicted in NYC 39 The hospital became synonymous with care for AIDS patients in the 1980s particularly poor gay men and drug users 40 It became one of the best hospitals in the state for AIDS care with a large research facility and dozens of doctors and nurses working on it 40 ACT UP protested the hospital one night in the 1980s due to its Catholic nature 40 They took over the emergency room and covered crucifixes with condoms 40 Their intent was both to raise awareness and offend Catholics 40 Instead of pressing charges the sisters who ran the hospital decided to meet with the protesters to better understand their concerns 40 Storm the NIH Edit On May 21 1990 around 1000 ACT UP members initiated a choreographed demonstration at the National Institutes of Health NIH in Bethesda Maryland splitting into sub groups across the campus The protest was in part directed at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and its director Anthony Fauci Activists were angered by what they felt was slow progress on promised research and treatment efforts 41 According to Kramer this was their best demonstration but was almost completely ignored by the media because of a large fire in Washington D C on the same day citation needed Day of Desperation Edit On January 22 1991 during Operation Desert Storm ACT UP activist John Weir and two other activists entered the studio of the CBS Evening News at the beginning of the broadcast They shouted AIDS is news Fight AIDS not Arabs and Weir stepped in front of the camera before the control room cut to a commercial break The same night ACT UP demonstrated at the studios of the MacNeil Lehrer Newshour The next day activists displayed banners in Grand Central Terminal that said Money for AIDS not for war and One AIDS death every 8 minutes One of the banners was handheld and displayed across the train timetable and the other attached to bundles of balloons that lifted it up to the ceiling of the station s enormous main room These actions were part of a coordinated protest called Day of Desperation 42 Seattle schools Edit In December 1991 ACT UP s Seattle chapter distributed over 500 safer sex packets outside Seattle high schools The packets contained a pamphlet titled How to Fuck Safely which was photographically illustrated and included two men performing fellatio The Washington state legislature subsequently passed a Harmful to Minors law making it illegal to distribute sexually explicit material to underage persons 43 Macy s Herald Square Edit On November 29 1991 the Black Friday shopping day ACT UP activists dressed in Santa Claus costumes chained themselves inside Macy s flagship Herald Square department store to protest the store s decision not to rehire an HIV positive Santa Mark Woodley They sang protest Christmas songs with lyrics such as Santa Claus has HIV fa la la la la la la la la Macy s won t rehire he fa la la la la la la la la Nineteen activists were arrested at the action 44 45 Boston and New England Edit In January 1988 ACT UP Boston held its first protest at the Boston offices of the Department of Health and Human Services regarding delays and red tape surrounding approval of AIDS treatment drugs ACT UP Boston s agenda included demands for a compassionate and comprehensive national policy on AIDS a national emergency AIDS project intensified drug testing research and treatment efforts and a full scale national educational program within reach of all The organization held die ins and sleep ins provided freshman orientation for Harvard Medical School students negotiated successfully with a major pharmaceutical corporation affected state and national AIDS policies pressured health care insurers to provide coverage for people with AIDS influenced the thinking of some of the nation s most influential researchers served on the Massachusetts committee that created the nation s first online registry of clinical trials for AIDS treatments distributed information and condoms to the congregation at Cardinal Bernard Francis Law s Confirmation Sunday services at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston and made aerosolized pentamidine an accessible treatment in New England 7 In February 1988 ACT UP Boston in collaboration with ACT UP New York Mass ACT OUT and Cure Aids Now demonstrated at both the Democratic and Republican presidential debates and primaries in New Hampshire and at other events during the presidential race 46 During an ordination of priests in Boston in 1990 ACT UP and the Massachusetts Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights chanted and protested outside during the service 47 48 49 The protesters marched chanted blew whistles and sounded airhorns to disrupt the ceremony 47 They also threw condoms at people as they left the ordination and were forced to stay back behind police and police barricades 47 One man was arrested 50 The demonstration was condemned by Leonard P Zakim among others 50 Los Angeles EditACT UP Los Angeles ACT UP LA was founded December 4 1987 and continued holding demonstrations until the early 2000s During their run they tackled healthcare access political issues related to LGBTQ civil rights and supported national ACT UP campaigns 51 Some of their more local work focused on policy regarding the migration of HIV positive people into the U S pushing for AIDS clinical trials promoting needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users and surveying speaking out against discrimination by health care and insurance providers 52 They were effective in distributing their research on Antiviral Therapy AZT local and international actions and updates on the different caucuses through their ACT UP LA newsletter The newsletter also served as both an educational outreach and fundraising tool citation needed Memorable actions by ACT UP LA are the protests and demonstrations in county based locations such as the USC county hospital Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services 53 ACT UP LA and about fifteen other organizations formed an Alternative Budget Coalition rented the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting room and held a mock hearing on the county s 10 billion budget saying it spent too little on fighting AIDS 54 Prominent activists in this period included Connie Norman one of the people who led ACT UP s push for a bill AB101 to protect workers from being fired because of their sexuality California governor Pete Wilson s veto of which led to the AB101 Veto Riot 55 ACT UP LA and its associated Women s Caucus put on a Week of Outrage in conjunction with the national organization which consisted of demonstrations a teach in safe sex vending event 56 Women s Caucus ACT UP LA Edit The Women s Caucus WC of ACT UP LA served an important collaboration between men and women who were being affected by HIV and AIDS 57 WC within the ACT UP LA organization was unique because in this chapter they had a significant amount of control over how they included women s issues into the organizations larger gay male actions Men were present in the WC but only as allies which harvested a collaboration for effective actions rallies and any acts of resistance for the whole organization as a whole 58 While the collaboration was not always perfect at the end it created a stronger force against discrimination of HIV people in Los Angeles 59 Some of the work that the WC did was distribute statistical information about women who are HIV the lack of appropriate screening and health care access information about safer sex practices in English and Spanish as well as acts of action to push for better Lauren Leary was an integral in the organization because her worked revolved around gathering existing research about HIV and AIDS in women and men and current treatment options An ACT UP national collective of women came together to create the Women s Treatment and Research Agenda in 1991 57 Washington D C EditGiant condom over Senator s home Edit Peter Staley and other activists affiliated with ACT UP wrapped the Arlington Virginia home of Senator Jesse Helms in a 15 foot condom on September 5 1991 The protest condemned the Helms AIDS Amendments which continued to block funding for education as well as his ongoing opposition to People With AIDS including numerous homophobic falsehoods about HIV and AIDS Helms had actively passed laws stigmatizing the disease and his staunch attempts to block federal funding for and education about HIV and AIDS had significantly increased the death toll Some of the harmful legislation he enacted is still in place 60 The condom was inflated and the message on it read A CONDOM TO PREVENT UNSAFE POLITICS HELMS IS DEADLIER THAN A VIRUS The event was captured live on the news 61 This was the first action of the affinity ACT group TAG Treatment Action Guerillas 62 While the police were called no one was arrested and the group was allowed to take the condom down though they did receive a parking ticket 62 60 The event was dramatized with fictionalized characters in a 2019 episode of the FX television series POSE 63 Ashes Actions Edit In October 1992 and October 1996 during displays of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and just before presidential elections ACT UP activists held two Ashes Actions 64 Inspired by a passage in David Wojnarowicz s 1991 memoir Close to the Knives these actions scattered the ashes of people who had died of AIDS including Wojnarowicz and activist Connie Norman on the White House lawn in protest of the federal government s inadequate response to AIDS 64 Canada EditVancouver Edit Formed in 1989 ACT UP Vancouver began at a public meeting to determine how to respond to the government s inaction on the AIDS crisis 65 and focused their activism on the provincial political crises surrounding AIDS 66 They organized and participated in various protests including the Les Miserables demonstration to protest then provincial Prime Minister Bill Vander Zalm which brought together a diverse range of activist groups 67 Despite its impact the organization eventually dissolved around 1991 following their State of the Province protest 68 They stated their dissolution was not due to a lack of commitment from members but rather a lack of expertise and negative press stemming from arrests which led to other organizations distancing themselves from ACT UP 69 One of the arrested members John Kozachenko was accused of vehicle damage though he asserted his innocence and the charges were later dropped 70 Members felt the incident interfered with the groups s ability to initiate reforms in conservative Vancouver 71 Montreal Edit The AIDS crisis in Montreal was very pronounced and is often underrepresented in discussion about the pandemic ACT UP worked to end the AIDS pandemic and to combat the extreme homophobia that gay men faced as a result of stigma and stereotypes ACT UP NYC protested the Fifth International AIDS Conference in 1989 and inspired the creation of ACT UP MTL They also confronted Montreal prisons about their high rates of HIV which they suggested were due to condoms not being available to prisoners 72 ACT UP MTL was formed in March of 1990 Despite discouragement by the provincial government and Minister of Health who felt that public information about AIDS prevention would encourage homosexuality and drug use ACT UP MTL was responsible for translating English AIDS prevention resources into French and creating their own informational flyers that were accessible to Quebec s Francophone population The chapter was also responsible for several demonstrations in a Montreal city park to raise awareness about those living with AIDS and those lost to HIV AIDS complications In 1994 the park was officially named Le Parc de l Espoir and an AIDS memorial monument was constructed 73 Structure of ACT UP Edit ACT UP protests in New York City against Uganda s Anti Homosexuality Bill ACT UP was organized as effectively leaderless there was a formal committee structure Bill Bahlman recalls there were initially two main committees There was the Issues Committee that scrupulously studied the issues surrounding an advancement the group wanted to achieve and the Actions Committee that would plan a Zap or Demonstration to achieve that particular goal This was intentional on Larry Kramer s part he describes it as democratic to a fault 11 It followed a committee structure with each committee reporting to a coordinating committee meeting once a week Actions and proposals were generally brought to the coordinating committee and then to the floor for a vote but this wasn t required any motion could be brought to a vote at any time 16 Gregg Bordowitz an early member said of the process This is how grassroots democratic politics work To a certain extent this is how democratic politics is supposed to work in general You convince people of the validity of your ideas You have to go out there and convince people 74 This is not to say that it was in practice purely anarchic or democratic Bordowitz and others admit that certain people were able to communicate and defend their ideas more effectively than others Although Larry Kramer is often labeled the first leader of ACT UP as the group matured those people that regularly attended meetings and made their voice heard became conduits through which smaller affinity groups would present and organize their ideas Leadership changed hands frequently and suddenly 74 Some of the Committees were citation needed Issues Committee Action Committee Finance Committee Outreach Committee Treatment and Data Committee Media Committee Graphics Committee Housing CommitteeNote As ACT UP had no formal organizing plan the titles of these committees are somewhat variable and some members remember them differently than others In addition to Committees there were also Caucuses bodies set up by members of particular communities to create space to pursue their needs Among those active in the late 1980s and or early 1990s were the Women s Caucus sometimes referred to as the Women s Committee 75 and the Latino Latina Caucus 76 Along with committees and caucuses ACT UP New York relied heavily on affinity groups These groups often had no formal structure but were centered on specific advocacy issues and personal connections often within larger committees Affinity groups supported overall solidarity in larger more complex political actions through the mutual support provided to members of the group Affinity groups often organized to perform smaller actions within the scope of a larger political action such as the Day of Desperation when the Needle Exchange group presented NY City Health Department officials with thousands of used syringes they had collected through their exchange contained in water cooler bottles citation needed Gran Fury Edit Gran Fury functioned as the anonymous art collective that produced all of the artistic media for ACT UP The group remained anonymous because it allowed the collective to function as a cohesive unit without any one voice being singled out The mission of the group was to bring an end to the AIDS Crisis by making reference to the issues plaguing society at large especially homophobia and the lack of public investment in the AIDS epidemic through bringing art works into the public sphere in order to reach the maximum audience The group often faced censorship in their proceedings including being rejected for public billboard space and being threatened with censorship in art exhibitions When faced with this censorship Gran Fury often posted their work illegally on the walls of the streets 77 DIVA TV Edit DIVA TV an acronym for Damned Interfering Video Activist Television was an affinity group within ACT UP that videotaped and documented AIDS activism Its founding members are Catherine Gund Ray Navarro Ellen Spiro Gregg Bordowitz Robert Beck Costa Pappas Jean Carlomusto Rob Kurilla George Plagianos 78 One of their early works is Like a Prayer 1991 documenting the 1989 ACT UP protests at St Patrick s Cathedral against New York Cardinal O Connor s position on AIDS and contraception In the video Ray Navarro an ACT UP DIVA TV activist 79 serves as the narrator dressed up as Jesus The documentary aims to show mass media bias as it juxtaposes original protest footage with those images shown on the nightly news Although less as a collective after 1990 DIVA TV continued documenting over 700 camera hours the direct actions of ACT UP activists and the community responses to HIV AIDS producing over 160 video programs for public access television channels as the weekly series AIDS Community Television from 1991 to 1996 80 and from 1994 to 96 the weekly call in public access series ACT UP Live film festival screenings and continuing on line documentation and streaming internet webcasts The video activism of DIVA TV ultimately switched media in 1997 with the establishing and continuing development of the ACT UP New York website The most recent DIVA TV genre video program documenting the history and activism of ACT UP New York is the feature length documentary Fight Back Fight AIDS 15 Years of ACT UP 2002 screened at the Berlin Film Festival and exhibited worldwide DIVA TV programs and camera original videotapes are currently re mastered archived and preserved and publicly accessible in the collection of the AIDS Video Activist Video Preservation Project at the New York Public Library 81 Institutional independence Edit ACT UP had an early debate about whether to register the organization as a 501 c 3 nonprofit in order to allow contributors tax exemptions Eventually they decided against it because as Maria Maggenti said they didn t want to have anything to do with the government 15 This kind of uncompromising ethos characterized the group in its early stages editorializing eventually it led to a split between those in the group who wanted to remain wholly independent and those who saw opportunities for compromise and progress by going inside the institutions and systems they were fighting against 82 Later years EditACT UP while extremely prolific and certainly effective at its peak suffered from extreme internal pressures over the direction of the group and of the AIDS crisis After the action at NIH these tensions resulted in an effective severing of the Action Committee and the Treatment and Data Committee which reformed itself as the Treatment Action Group TAG 82 83 Several members describe this as a severing of the dual nature of ACT UP In 2000 ACT UP Chicago was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame 84 ACT UP chapters continue to meet and protest albeit with a smaller membership ACT UP NY and ACT UP Philadelphia are particularly robust with other chapters active elsewhere Housing Works New York s largest AIDS service organization and Health GAP which fights to expand treatment for people with AIDS throughout the world are direct outgrowths of ACT UP Factionalism in San Francisco EditIn 2000 ACT UP Golden Gate changed its name to Survive AIDS to avoid confusion with ACT UP San Francisco ACT UP SF The two had previously split apart in 1990 but continued to share the same essential philosophy In 1994 ACT UP SF began rejecting the scientific consensus regarding the cause of AIDS and the connection to HIV and the two groups became openly hostile to each other with mainstream gay and AIDS organizations also condemning ACT UP SF 85 The group would link up with People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals against animal research into AIDS cures 85 Restraining orders have been granted after the organization physically attacked AIDS charities that help HIV positive patients 86 and activists have been found guilty of misdemeanor charges laid after threatening phone calls to journalists and public health officials 87 See also EditOrganizations ActUp RI the Rhode Island chapter Bash Back group of radical queers influenced by ACT UP Fed Up Queers group founded through ACT UP Fierce Pussy NYC lesbian feminist art collective involved with ACT UP promotion and AIDS awareness Housing Works Lesbian Avengers Queer Nation group founded after meetings between members of ACT UP NYC and MassActOutPeople Chris Bartlett activist member of ACT UP Philadelphia J Quinn Brisben Spencer Cox member of ACT UP New York David B Feinberg Robert Garcia member of ACT UP New York Gregg Gonsalves Keith Haring New York artist whose Silence Death work later became a theme used by ACT UP around 1987 Marsha P Johnson Stonewall veteran participant in meetings and actions with ACT UP New York Boston MassActOut and what would become the ACT UP Presidential Project in New Hampshire Larry Kramer playwright founding member of Gay Men s Health Crisis early member of ACT UP New York Kiyoshi Kuromiya member of ACT UP Philadelphia Didier Lestrade ACT UP Paris co founder Luke Montgomery member of ACT UP Seattle Maria Maggenti member of ACT UP New York filmmaker and documentarian director of The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love participant in the ACT UP Oral History Project 15 Mary Patten member of ACT UP Chicago Michael Petrelis co founding member of ACT UP New York helped organize chapters in several cities nationwide including the ACT UP Presidential Project founding member of Queer Nation Hunter Reynolds member of ACT UP New York co founded ART Positive Thierry Schaffauser sex worker activist and writer former member of ACT UP Paris Sarah Schulman member of ACT UP New York director of the ACT UP Oral History Project Peter Tatchell ACT UP London founder Shatzi Weisberger member of ACT UP New YorkMedia and Research How to Survive a Plague documentary 2012 United in Anger A History of ACT UP documentary 2012 Small Town Rage Fighting Back in the Deep South documentary 2017 BPM Beats per Minute film about ACT UP Paris 2017 the AIDS activist project documentary book 2018 Let the Record Show A Political History of ACT UP New York 1987 1993 book by Sarah Schulman 2020 To Make the Wounded Whole The African American Struggle Against HIV AIDS book by Dan Royles with material on ACT UP Philadelphia 2020 Deborah B Gould Moving Politics Emotion and Act Up s Fight Against AIDS 88 References Edit ACT UP new york actupny org Retrieved 19 February 2017 a b c d e f g Crimp Douglas AIDS Demographics Bay Press 1990 Comprehensive early history of ACT UP discussion of the various signs and symbols used by ACT UP Blotcher Jay 2006 ACT UP In Gerstner David A ed Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture 1 ed Routledge pp 3 7 ISBN 9780415306515 Retrieved 2022 06 12 Zafir Lindsay 2019 Act Up in Chiang Howard Arondekar Anjali Epprecht Marc Evans Jennifer eds Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer LGBTQ History vol 1 Farmington Hills MI Charles Scribner s Sons pp 1 8 Leland John 2017 05 19 Twilight of a Difficult Man Larry Kramer and the Birth of AIDS Activism Published 2017 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2021 01 16 a b Stein Marc Memories of the 1987 March on Washington for OutHistory org August 2013 Accessed October 11 2015 a b ACT UP Boston Historical Records Northeastern University Libraries Archives January 2008 Archived from the original on 2018 05 27 Retrieved 2018 04 04 ACT UP Oral History Project a b c ACT UP New York Capsule History Actupny org ACT UP New York First Demonstration Flyer Actupny org a b Kramer Larry Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actuporalhistory org Archived 2017 05 17 at the Wayback Machine ACT UP New York Capsule History 1987 Actupny org ACT UP New York Capsule History 1988 Actupny org ACT UP New York Capsule History 1989 Actupny org a b c d Maggenti Maria Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actupralhistory org Archived 2021 04 23 at the Wayback Machine a b Carlomusto Jean Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actuporalhistory org Archived 2021 04 23 at the Wayback Machine Treichler Paula How To Have Theory In An Epidemic Duke University Press 1999 Discussion of the Cosmopolitan controversy and media representation Brier 2009 p 173 a b Brier 2009 p 174 Laurence 1997 p 148 149 Rosenblum Illith Maggenti Maria ACT UP Organization 1989 The ACT UP women s caucus women and AIDS handbook New York N Y AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power OCLC 23144032 Banzhaf Marion ACT UP Organization New York Women and AIDS Book Group 1993 La mujer el SIDA y el activismo in Spanish Boston Mass South End Press ISBN 0896084558 OCLC 32616186 a b Police Arrest AIDS Protesters Blocking Access to FDA Offices Los Angeles Times 11 October 1988 Retrieved 2012 12 07 a b Crimp Douglas 6 December 2011 Before Occupy How AIDS Activists Seized Control of the FDA in 1988 The Atlantic Retrieved 2012 12 07 The Jacket Pioneer Works 11 November 2020 Retrieved 2020 11 11 a b c d O Loughlin Michael J June 21 2019 Pose revisits controversial AIDS protest inside St Patrick s Cathedral America Retrieved June 24 2019 Crouch Stanley 10 May 2000 Mourning the loss of Cardinal O Connor Salon Archived from the original on 2004 09 18 Retrieved 2006 01 01 a b Faderman 2015 p 434 a b Allen Peter L June 2002 The Wages of Sin Sex and Disease Past and Present University of Chicago Press p 143 ISBN 978 0 226 01461 6 retrieved July 27 2018 Faderman 2015 pp 433 435 Hunter James Davison 1991 Culture Wars The Struggle to Define America Basic Books p 153 ISBN 978 0975372500 a b Michael O Loughlin 1 December 2019 Surviving the AIDS crisis as a gay Catholic Plague Untold Stories of AIDS amp the Catholic Church Podcast America Retrieved 10 January 2019 Faderman 2015 pp 434 435 DeParle Jason January 3 1990 Rude Rash Effective Act Up Shifts AIDS Policy New York Times p B1 Retrieved August 7 2018 ACTUP Oral History Project Interviewee Tom Keane Interview Number 176 PDF The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival Inc February 24 2015 pp 20 21 Retrieved August 3 2018 I put my hands out and suddenly I have the Communion wafer in my hands and the priest says This is the body of Christ and I say Opposing safe sex education is murder Then I sort of I didn t really know what to do and I think in some sense some part of me was sort of saying Well fine You guys think you can tell us that you reject us that we don t belong so I m going to reject you So I took it and I crushed it and dropped it Scalia Elizabeth November 10 2015 The Priest and the Pieces of Christ s Body He Protects Alteia Retrieved October 8 2018 a b Carroll Tamar W April 20 2015 Mobilizing New York AIDS Antipoverty and Feminist Activism University of North Carolina Press pp 157 158 ISBN 978 1 4696 1989 7 Daisy Sindelar 2012 08 06 Decades Before Pussy Riot U S Group Protested Catholic Church And Got Results Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Boynton Andrew Remembering St Vincent s The New Yorker May 16 2013 a b c d e f Michael O Loughlin December 8 2019 The Catholic hospital that pioneered AIDS care Plague Untold Stories of AIDS amp the Catholic Church Podcast America Retrieved January 10 2019 Anderson Andrea 16 July 2017 Demonstrating Discontent May 21 1990 The Scientist Magazine The Scientist Retrieved 20 June 2020 Day of Desperation Synopsis ACT UP New York Bock Paula December 3 1991 Graphic Anti Aids Pamphlet Disgusting Say Teens We Don t Need A Four Letter Word To Get The Point Across At Franklin The Seattle Times Retrieved 27 March 2012 No miracle on 34th St for AIDS infected man Danville News Danville PA Associated Press November 30 1991 p 1 Retrieved December 10 2021 via Newspapers com The day Santas stormed Macy s to protest for AIDS awareness Morning Edition December 10 2021 NPR ACT UP Boston Raymond Schmidt and Stephen Skuce collection Northeastern University Libraries Archives 1987 2007 Archived from the original on 2021 06 26 Retrieved 2021 08 20 a b c Sege Irene June 17 1990 Hundreds protest Cardinal Law at ordination The Boston Sunday Globe p 25 Tracy Doris 26 August 2016 Bishop Mark O Connell I plan on being a happy bishop The Pilot Retrieved 12 March 2018 Oransky Ivan 30 November 1990 Catholic Students Protest Tactics of Gay Activists The Harvard Crimson Retrieved 12 March 2018 a b Pilot editorial assails protest The Boston Globe June 22 1990 p 19 Benita Roth The Life and Death of ACT UP LA Anti Aids Activism in Los Angeles from the 1989s to the 2000s New York Cambridge University Press 2017 Erik Meers In your Face On its tenth anniversary of Act UP shows signs of becoming a victim of its own success The Advocate 18 March 1997 41 ACT UP LA Archival images available at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Roth 2017 p 49 Roth 2017 p 65 ACT UP Los Angeles news housed at UCLA s Southern Regional Library Facility a b Finding Aid for the ACT UP Los Angeles records 1990 1992 located in the UCLA Library Special Collections Roth Benita Feminist Boundaries in the Feminist Friendly Organization The Women s Caucus of ACT UP LA Gender amp Society vol 12 no 2 1998 129 145 Taylor Verta Rupp Leila J Women s Culture and Lesbian Feminist Activism Community Activism and Feminist Politics edited by Nancy A Naples Routledge 1988 57 79 a b TAG Helms when ACT UP put a Giant Condom over Sen Jesse Helms s House YouTube ACT UP Unfurls Giant Condom Engulfing Jesse Helms Home YouTube a b The Condom on Jesse Helms House Actipedia 2012 06 03 Retrieved 2020 08 03 Pose s Condom Over the House Scene Actually Happened Here s How a b Critic s Notebook Why the Ashes of AIDS Victims on the White House Lawn Matter VICE News August 29 2016 Kozachenko John 2016 10 14 Kozachenko 2014 p 10 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Kaleta Janis 2016 10 14 Kaleta 2019 p 4 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Kaleta Janis 2019 10 14 Kaleta 2014 p 6 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Kaleta Janis 2016 10 14 Kaleta 2019 p 12 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Kaleta Janis 2016 10 14 Kaleta 2019 p 6 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Kozachenko John 2016 10 14 https aidsactivisthistory ca interviews vancouver interviews AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code title code help Brooke Cynthia 2016 10 14 Cynthia 2019 p 7 Interview AIDS Activist History Project AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 27 Montreal Interviews AIDS Activist History Project 2016 10 13 Retrieved 2022 01 27 Hendricks Michael amp LeBoeuf Rene February 5 2016 Montreal Interviews a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help AIDS Activist History Project Retrieved 2023 01 24 a b Bordowitz Gregg Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actuporalhistory org Archived 2021 04 23 at the Wayback Machine No More Invisible Women Exhibition Herstories Audio Visual Collections of the LHA herstories prattinfoschool nyc Retrieved 2017 11 30 Latinos ACT UP Transnational AIDS Activism in the 1990s NACLA Retrieved 2017 11 30 Gober Robert Bob Gober and Gran Fury Gran Fury BOMB no 34 1991 8 13 Alex Juhaz Diva TV and ACT UP Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media editor John D H Downing A Day Without an Artist Ray Navarro Leap Into the Void DIVA TV Damned Interfering Video Activists actupny org Retrieved 19 February 2017 AIDS Activist Videotape Collection 1983 2000 Table of Contents nypl org Archived from the original on 20 February 2017 Retrieved 19 February 2017 a b Harrington Mark Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actuporalhistory org Archived 2021 04 24 at the Wayback Machine Wolfe Maxine Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard ACTUP Oral History Project February 16 2005 MIX The New York Lesbian amp Gay Experimental Film Festival December 11 2005 Actuporalhistory org Archived 2021 04 24 at the Wayback Machine Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Archived from the original on 2015 10 17 Retrieved 2015 11 01 a b Men Behaving Viciously How ACT UP San Francisco spreads spit fake blood used cat litter and potentially deadly misinformation through the AIDS community San Francisco Weekly Archived from the original on 2009 01 17 Heredia Christopher September 10 2010 S F s ACT UP Ordered to Back Off San Francisco Chronicle Activists sentenced for misdemeanors Gay com Archived from the original on 2005 03 08 Gould Deborah B 2009 Moving Politics University of Chicago Press doi 10 7208 chicago 9780226305318 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 226 30530 1 Works cited EditACT UP New York Women and AIDS Book Group 1990 Women AIDS and Activism South End Press ACT UP New York Women and AIDS Book Group 1993 La Mujer el SIDA y el Activismo South End Press Brier Jennifer 2009 Infectious Ideas U S Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis University of North Carolina Press Laurence Leslie 1997 Outrageous Practices How Gender Bias Threatens Women s Health Rutgers University Press Faderman Lillian 2015 The Gay Revolution Simon amp Schuster ISBN 9781451694130 Further reading EditACT UP Boston David Stitt collection 1986 1994 and the ACT UP Boston Raymond Schmidt and Stephen Skuce collection 1987 2007 bulk 1988 1995 are housed at the Northeastern University Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department Boston MA AIDS Activist Videotape Collection 1983 2000 630 VHS tapes is housed at the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division Robert Garcia Papers 1988 1993 9 cubic feet are housed at the Cornell University Library Women s Action Coalition Records 1991 1997 8 linear feet are housed at the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division ACT UP New York records 1969 1982 1997 Manuscripts and Archives New York Public Library Photographs and film regarding ACT UP New York and The Costas 1987 1991 2008 Manuscripts and Archives New York Public Library AIDS Activist Videotape Collection at the New York Public Library Archived 2017 02 20 at the Wayback Machine Documentary ACT UP Fight Back Fight AIDS 15 Years of ACT UP 2002 Documentary UNITED IN ANGER A History of ACT UP 2012 by Jim Hubbard amp Sarah Schulman OutWeek Internet Archive Bill Bytsura ACT UP Photography Collection at The Fales Library amp Special Collections of NYU Alan Klein papers at The Fales Library amp Special Collections of NYU Jay Blotcher papers at The Fales Library amp Special Collections of NYU The Making of an AIDS Activist Larry Kramer and ACT UP pp 162 166 Johansson Warren and Percy William A Outing Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence New York and London Haworth Press 1994 AIDS Assaults Courts Controversy with Andrew Cornell Robinson s Obscene Ceramics SOWEBO ACT UP Exhibition Baltimore MD 1991 Group Show amp ACT UP benefit courts controversy Harry Newspaper Baltimore MD July 1991 Vol 2 p 1 Curley Mallory A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia Randy Press 2010 External links EditACT UP New York Larry Kramer Papers Yale Collection of American Literature Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title ACT UP amp oldid 1137142750, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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