Act Up

ACT UP, an acronym for "Aids Coalition to Unleash Power", is an activist gay rights organization that works to end AIDS. The group describes itself as "a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis."

Background
ACT UP/New York was started on March 10, 1987 by a group of activists at the LGBT Community Center in New York City. The audience of more than 400 was inspired by a speech given by author Larry Kramer. Two weeks later, ACT UP held its first demonstration which was a die-in on Wall Street to protest the high price of AZT, then the only drug for AIDS. They were also protesting the policies of the Food and Drug Administration. "The protest garnered widespread media attention and put the fledgling group on the national radar. Before long, chapters sprang up in cities across the United States, including San Francisco, and eventually around the world."

"In San Francisco, ACT UP underwent a split in the early 1990s, and the name became associated with a small group of AIDS dissidents and animal rights activists; today, that group's primary activity is running a medical cannabis dispensary. Treatment activists from the original group then started ACT UP/Golden Gate, which in 2000 changed its name to Survive AIDS in order to avoid confusion with ACT UP/San Francisco. Today, besides two groups that recently revived the ACT UP name to commemorate the anniversary, ACT UP/Philadelphia is the only U.S. chapter that continues to meet regularly; ACT UP/Paris also remains active."

Boycott of Philip Morris
In 1990 ACT UP boycotted Philip Morris and its flagship products Miller Beer and Marlboro cigarettes due to the company's support of Congressman Jesse Helms, who opposed gay rights in the legislature. ACT UP eventually agreed to stop its boycott in return for PM doubling its funding AIDS research.

Contact details
ACT UP New York 332 Bleecker St., Suite G5 New York, NY 10014 Email: actupny AT panix.com Websites: http://www.actupny.org (ACT UP New York) http://critpath.org/actup (ACT UP Philadelphia) http://www.actupphilly.org (ACT UP Philadelphia)

Related SourceWatch articles

 * AIDS industry
 * American Foundation for AIDS Research
 * Harvard AIDS Institute
 * HIV/AIDS

External articles

 * Jason DeParle, "Rude, Rash, Effective, Act-Up Shifts AIDS Policy", The New York Times, January 3, 1990.
 * Emily Douglas, "ACT UP's New Urgency", The Nation, April 3, 2007.

External resources

 * Oral History, ACT UP, accessed January 2011.
 * Harvard exhibition of visual media in AIDS activism marks 20 year anniversary of the formation of ACT UP New York, Harvard Art Museum, accessed January 2011.

Additional documents

 * April 1990 ACT UP press release announcing boycott of Philip Morris
 * April 1990 flier describing reasons for boycott
 * April 16, 1990 letter to supporters describing reasons for boycott
 * Philip Morris Rising a May, 1993 Philip Morris Corporate Philanthropy Report describing the company's victory over ACT UP's boycott after PM agreed to double its funding of AIDS research.

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