a protest at city hall draws nearly 3,000 members of new york city s gay and lesbian community and its supporters. the demonstrators are from a defiant political action group called actup, the aids coalition to unleash power. actup s co-founder, sawyer, was diagnosed with hiv in 1984. one thing we realized writing letters or articles to the editor about the health crises wasn t getting the public s attention and decided we really had to disrupt people in their daily lives the way aids was disrupting our daily lives. the crisis began in 1981 when a mysterious disease started spreading among gay men and intravenous drug users. they didn t know what was causing these cancers that caused big purple callous-like lesions all over the bodies of people and invaded the lungs and killed people. by the mid 18980s, tens of thousands of cases of hiv, the virus that causes aids, are reported across the u.s. the federal government s response is show. john winkelman was a college activist duri
nearly 3,000 members of new york city s gay and lesbian community and its supporters. the demonstrators are from a defiant political action group called actup, the aids coalition to unleash power. actup s co-founder, sawyer, was diagnosed with hiv in 1984. one thing we realized writing letters or articles to the editor about the health crises wasn t getting the public s attention and decided we really had to disrupt people in their daily lives the way aids was disrupting our daily lives. the crisis began in 1981 when a mysterious disease started spreading among gay men and intravenous drug users. they didn t know what was causing these cancers that caused big purple callous-like lesions all over the bodies of people and invaded the lungs and killed people. by the mid 18980s, tens of thousands of cases of hiv, the virus that causes aids, are reported across the u.s. the federal government s response is show. john winkelman was a college activist during that time.
response is slow. john winkelman was a college activist during that time. reagan didn t push for federal funding. nothing was happening. unfortunately, hiv was impacting first gay men and then drug users. everybody thinks that queers and junkies are expendable. let s be honest with ourselves. when it comes to preventing aids, don t medicine and morality teach the same lessons? in new york, the city s large gay community is especially hard hit. a lot of fear and anger. people died very quick, horrible, horrible deaths. you had a government that wasn t telling you the answers to any of the questions that any of us had. what was this disease? how was it spread? in addition, the stigma and prejudice attached to the disease creates terrible consequences for those infected. people were being fired from their job, evicted from their apartment, denied health insurance. everything. city government was also absent. ed koch s administration was not
virus that causes aids, are reported across the u.s. the federal government s response is show. john winkelman was a college activist during that time. reagan didn t push for funding. nothing was happening. unfortunately, hiv was impacting first gay men and then drug users. everybody thinks that queers and junkies are expendable. let me honest with ourselves. when it comes to preventing aids, don t medicine and morality teach the same lessons? no new york, the city s large gay community is especially hard hit. a lot of fear and anger. people died very quick, horrible, horrible deaths. you had a government that wasn t telling you the answers to any of the questions that any of us had. what was this disease? how was it spread? in addition, the stigma and prejudice attached to the disease creates terrible consequences for those infected. people were being fire from their job, evicted from their apartment, denied health insurance.