ACTing Up

ACTing UP Khyla Fobbs, and Malyssa Santos

SILENCE = DEATH

How Change Can Shine A Light

1992, in USA about 11 thousand individuals had been diagnosed with AIDS, with the lack of information and with numbers only growing in deaths, at some point. Things HAD to change.

By 1993, demand for change had come, with the government addressing and further opening the doors for AIDS cases.

“to include all human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons with severe immunosuppression” This not only allowed those who were not considered for AIDS before to get checked again but it also held other worrying findings.

What is ACT UP? ( and who started it? )

The person behind this union and one of the founder’s was Larry Kramer, a individual who highlighted the injustice gay men faced, starting out small writing articles in the press about awareness of AIDS spreading, but soon it wasn’t enough for him. Fueled by rage, Kramer took steps toward better health care for all.

“It took me too long but, eventually, I learned to look through the anger, resentment and fear… By the time we met, Kramer was a fully armed instrument of rage” (The Benevolent Rage Of

The ACT UP movement (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was a protest and action group united in fury from the lack of response and care from the government since the AIDS crisis had killed thousands of people.

Men and Women work together united, bringing a message that anyone can get AIDS.

Special Events: ●

March 10, 1987: Gay activist playwright Larry Kramer called for the formation of an AIDS activist group in a speech at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Manhattan…how it all began

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October 11, 1988: ACT UP protested the FDA for its slow drug-approval policy which resulted in thousands dead from lack of access to life-saving drugs. Within a year, the process was greatly accelerated.

May 21, 1990:

January 23, 1991:

ACT UP/NY organized a national action ACT UP staged its “Day of Desp

to “Storm the NIH” (National Institutes of response to President George H Health) in Maryland. Over 1,0000

billion-dollars-a-day on the Gulf

protesters demanded more AIDS

there was no money for much-n

treatments,

AIDS programs. Activists disrup

News live broadcast on the nigh “Fight AIDS, not Arabs!”

Why was the ACT UP movement so impactful towards the LGBT+ youth?

“The government doesn't listen to use because we're smart.

They listen to us because we’re smart and we can threaten them.”

The impacts the movement ACT UP held to this day takes root in the system today, metaphorical ones and physical ones.

Another truly inspirational thing the ACT UP movement accomplished was the way they used the system to demand and get change.

Not only did the movement bring forth a community, allowing future generations to feel inspired to do the same, as well fighting back against oppression, during a time when homophobia ran rampant, protesting even in the face of hate constantly thrown at them. They took risks and made sure the light was on the issue.

References Alphabetize this list, in APA format, including hyperlinks if retrieved from internet: ●

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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/000203 74.htm#:~:text=On%20January%201%2C%201993%2 C%20the,less%20than%20200%20CD4%2B%20T%2 D https://actupny.com/actions/ https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/l essons/act-30-years https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/t-magazine/act-u p-members.html https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/09/6 89924838/how-to-demand-a-medical-breakthrough-les sons-from-the-aids-fight https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm502 1a2.htm

Link to “quick start” APA format guide

Image links Page 1 (both graphs) ●

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00020374.htm#:~: text=On%20January%201%2C%201993%2C%20the,less%20tha n%20200%20CD4%2B%20T%2D

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