Friends,
In March 1987, Larry Kramer stood up and asked two thirds of the room to do the same. He told those that were standing that they would all be dead in five years: “If my speech tonight doesn’t scare the shit out of you, we’re in trouble. If what you’re hearing doesn’t rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men will have no future here on Earth. How long does it take before you get angry and fight back? The Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP came into being, Jim Eigo explained recently,” when a critical mass of people with AIDS recognized: my body, the site of a devastating disease, has become the site of a social struggle as well”. Using their bodies in protest, Act Up forever changed the regulatory framework for drugs, and the relationship between ordinary people and the healthcare system. They changed the system from an unjust one, to a less unjust one. Continue reading