On this weekend in 1987, 250 ACT UP members demonstrated
at Wall Street & Broadway in NYC to
demand greater access to experimental AIDS drugs & for a coordinated
national policy to fight the plague. An Op/Ed article by Larry Kramer published
in the NY Times the previous day described the issues ACT UP was concerned with. 17 ACT
UP members were arrested during this civil disobedience.
A year later, in 1988, ACT UP returned to Wall Street for
a larger demonstration in which over 100 people were arrested. Since its birth
in March 1987 at the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center in downtown
Manhattan, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power had grown to have thousands of
members in more than 70 chapters in the USA & around the globe. ACT UP's
non-violent direct action, using vocal demonstrations & dramatic acts
of civil disobedience, focuses attention on the crucial issues of the AIDS crisis.
The small group of men & women of all races &
classes, came together to change the world & save each other’s lives,
planning & executing exhilarating major actions including Seize Control of
the FDA, Stop the Church, & Day of Desperation, & other “zaps” and that forced the government and mainstream media
to deal with the AIDS crisis. Shortly after that first demonstration 25 years
ago, the Food & Drug Administration announced it will shorten its drug
approval process by 2 years.
I just wish Kramer wasn't such an asshole in general...
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