ACT UP New York (Organization)

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was founded in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in New York City's Greenwich Village as an organization devoted to direct action (demonstrations and civil disobedience) to call the attention of government officials, scientists, drug companies and other corporations, and the general public to the severity of the AIDS crisis and its impact on the lives of individuals.

From the description of ACT UP New York records, 1969, 1982-1997 (bulk 1987-1995). (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 233578972

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was founded in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in New York City's Greenwich Village as an organization devoted to direct action (demonstrations and civil disobedience) to call the attention of government officials, scientists, drug companies, other corporations, and the general public to the severity of the AIDS crisis and its impact on the lives of individuals. ACT UP New York gained thousands of members in its first four years and expanded to more than 70 chapters worldwide.

On March 24, 1987, only weeks after its founding, ACT UP demonstrated on Wall Street to protest the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies, especially Burroughs Wellcome, manufacturer of AZT. Seventeen people were arrested. Following the demonstrations, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would shorten the drug approval process by two years. For ACT UP, demonstrations were the physical result of the theoretical concept of direct action. At its peak, ACT UP, which first created the acronym, then chose the words to fit it, consciously acted in a manner befitting its moniker. As an organization, it spoke and acted out to test the limits of authority. Notably, the organization gained renown for its demonstrations, which captured media attention and brought focus to its messages. During the height of its activity in the early 1990s, ACT UP's demonstrations were theatrical in nature, involving rehearsal and props in addition to research, planning, and publicity. While practicing nonviolent civil disobedience, members often aimed at getting arrested. Arrests drew media attention to both the actions of the protestors and the grievances that sparked their action. This attention might then either embarrass or otherwise motivate the protested party to elicit change.

Through the years ACT UP orchestrated numerous demonstrations that contributed to changes in public policy regarding AIDS. Other notable demonstrations that occurred in 1987 included protests against Northwest Orient Airlines, New York City's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, and the newly-formed Presidential Commission on AIDS in Washington, DC.

ACT UP New York's Women's Caucus formed and organized its first action when it targeted the offices of Cosmopolitan magazine in January 1988. Five hundred people protested an article that claimed heterosexual women were not at significant risk of contracting AIDS. Celebrating the first anniversary of an ACT UP demonstration in March, the coalition returned to Wall Street where one hundred activists were arrested. The major media coverage this action received helped broadcast central AIDS issues. In October, ACT UP and other AIDS organizations shut down the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outside of Washington, DC.

In 1989, ACT UP demonstrated at City Hall, the Fifth International Conference on AIDS in Montréal, the New York Stock Exchange, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. ACT UP's Youth Brigade began distributing condoms and safe sex/clean needle information outside New York City schools in October. Following these demonstrations Mayor Ed Koch announced a new housing policy for people with AIDS; Anthony Fauci, director of the AIDS program at the National Institutes of Health, publicly announced the concept of "parallel track," which would make experimental AIDS drugs available to patients outside of formal clinical trials; and Burroughs Wellcome lowered the price of AZT by 20%.

In 1991, ACT UP demonstrated at the Manhattan Criminal Court building; the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) in Albany, New York; the National Insurance Association in Washington, DC; the New York State office building; President Bush's vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine; and the White House. The last two demonstrations were part of the "Target Bush" action, which occurred throughout the month of September. It was on January 22, 1991, however, when one of the highest profile actions in the group's history occurred. Activists invaded the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour while America was tuned in for news of the Persian Gulf War. The protesters stormed in shouting, "Fight AIDS - Not Arabs!" and chained themselves to the anchors' desks. This dramatic interruption increased the media's interest in the following day's series of protests that ACT UP declared a "Day of Desperation," implying that with AIDS, every day is a day of desperation.

While the media, and thus the public, focused on the demonstrations that ACT UP orchestrated, the coalition spent most of its time doing other types of work. A General Meeting was held every Monday night that included announcements, life-saving information, actions in development, follow-ups on previous actions, zap proposals, and operational requests. To clarify, ACT UP defined actions as public protests that were characterized by a planning period, promotion, and large turnout; zaps addressed immediate concerns and usually had more specific targets. At least during its first decade, a literature table was set up at each meeting that included information for general distribution while a fundraising table sold T-shirts, stickers, books, posters, buttons, postcards, and mugs; attendees were asked to donate $3.00 to help pay the rent.

Much of ACT UP's work from 1987-1995 was done in affinity groups, committees, working groups, and caucuses devoted to particular topics. Some groups, particularly working groups, were short-lived, designed to address short-term projects or activities. Generally, committees had longer lives. Some of the larger groups were the Alternative and Holistic Treatment committee, Latina/o caucus, Media committee, Needle Exchange committee, Prison Issues committee, Treatment and Data committee, and YELL (Youth Education Life Line).

As ACT UP declared, their members advised and informed in addition to participating in demonstrations. A large and important committee, Treatment and Data, grew to be vital to this mission. In June 1990, Treatment and Data issued its "1990 Treatment Agenda," which outlined the direction it believed the AIDS research community should take. In November, the committee released the "Countdown 18 Months Plan," a set of scientific procedures and demands to implement treatment and research for the top opportunistic infections. ACT UP members attended international conferences on AIDS and stayed up to date on traditional and alternative treatments that might help the AIDS community, creating their own AIDS library.

Out of ACT UP other noteworthy AIDS organizations arose: Gran Fury, an artists collective of AIDS activists, formed out of ACT UP's involvement with "Let the Record Show . . ." at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1987, and continued to be associated with the group by creating many of their notable graphics; Queer Nation, a short-lived radical, militant gay and lesbian activist organization dedicated to visibility; and the Treatment Action Group (TAG), an organization dedicated to AIDS treatment and cure research. Also associated with ACT UP New York was the Silence = Death Project, the anonymous group of men that created the Silence = Death poster that became a rallying point for the early AIDS movement.

ACT UP New York was at its peak of activity during the early 1990s. By 1996, the radically democratic organization harbored internal divisions over tactics and its relationship to both the AIDS and gay/lesbian movements. Divided, and with declining membership due to death and burnout, the coalition endured financial troubles, left their longtime workspace on West 29th Street, and donated their records to the New York Public Library. This end of an era for ACT UP coincided with a diminishing sense of crisis. In America, the combination of new treatments and greater availability, coupled with greater public education, made it possible to have AIDS and live. Although the coalition still exists at the time of this writing, its public visibility has waned.

Sources: Greenberg, Jon. "ACT UP Explained." ACT UP New York. http://www.actupny.org/documents/greenbergAU.html (accessed Mar. 20, 2008).

Rimmerman, Craig A. "ACT UP." The Encyclopedia of AIDS. Ed. by Raymond A. Smith. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. http://thebody.com/content/art14001.html (accessed Feb. 22, 2008).

From the guide to the ACT UP New York records, 1969, 1982-1997, 1987-1995, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)