AIDS activists look back on the birth of the movement

It’s been 36 years since Eric Sawyer was told by his doctor that he had two years left to live.

It was in 1985, and his boyfriend Scott died of AIDS.

The trauma at that time is why his doctor first withheld life imprisonment when Sawyer first learned that he was HIV-positive a few years ago.

“I didn’t want to let Scott know that he could literally live for less than a year at that time, but he probably can live for less than two years, so we need to sort out the problem,” said the doctor. Said.

But at the age of 67, he was still standing and admitting his survival thanks to a friend who helped connect with the right doctor at the time.

Much was not known about the disease at the time, making proper treatment much more difficult. And in New York City, where Sawyer lived, people were dying at an alarming rate.

“I probably died much earlier,” Sawyer said.

Since the epidemic began, more than 116,000 people have died of AIDS in New York. According to city data..

And the disparity in access to life-saving medicines for communities left out of society remains serious.

Blacks have a higher rate of new HIV diagnoses than other racial and ethnic groups. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..And black / African-American gay and bisexual men Maximum number of new HIV diagnoses, According to the 2018 analysis.

“Access is the keyword,” says Schulman. “And some people do not have access to existing medicines because there is no logical and coherent health care system in this country.”

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the official report of the first five cases, later known as AIDS, in the United States.

Members of the Act-Up group will hang a banner on the train schedule board at Grand Central Terminal in New York on Tuesday, January 24, 1991. (AP Photo / Ron Frehm)

And while treatment options have become available to help HIV-positive people live longer, early epidemic activists have to fight their teeth and nails for basic rights, such as having a caring doctor. I had to.

Sawyer’s friend who connected him to such a doctor was Larry Kramer, Pioneering AIDS activists and writers Co-founder of the Health Crisis of Gay Men and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power).

Ultimately, these two organizations will help change the status of services and rights for HIV-positive people in New York City and around the world.

Epicenter of the crisis

Sawyer considers himself one of the lucky ones.

“We had access to some of the few doctors who were treating AIDS patients, so they were in good health to survive until triple cocktails were available,” Sawyer said in 1996. Mentioned indinavir, one of the first combination anti-retroviral drugs to become.

When Sawyer heard from a doctor a two-year life imprisonment, The death toll from HIV / AIDS in the United States is 16,458, with New York City At the epicenter.

Despite the urgent need for assistance, government officials, scientists and researchers were significantly slower in responding to change and enacting it.

Many at the time felt that the most affected groups of the disease, such as homosexuals, drug users, sex workers, and other marginalized groups, were indifferent to the massive loss of life. The defenders said.

“We didn’t have enough space for AIDS patients,” said Sarah Schulman, author of “Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993.” “The epidemic was huge. Many died of garnies in the corridors of a hospital in New York.”

Not only was there an urgent need for basic care, but there was also a huge gap in information.

As a result, doctor Larry Mass, along with Nathan Fine, Paul Popam, Paul Lapoport, and Edmund White, gathered at Larry Kramer’s apartment one Monday in the summer of 1981 and eventually the health of gay men, an AIDS service organization. Caused a crisis. , We continue to serve New Yorkers today.

“People needed a hotline where they could call:” I have these purple spots. I’m coughing. Where should i go what do I do? Do they meet me at this hospital or its clinic? Is there a specific doctor I have to go to? “Misa said.

For Misa, the information element was an important motivational factor for him.

“I felt like a doctor. It was up to me to do everything I could to stick to the facts so that I wouldn’t get too absorbed in panic,” he said. “I was strongly aware of the dangers of fanaticism, denialism, and conspiracy theories. Early on, there was talk of chemical and biological warfare, but not so much at the time because we were an unwanted marginal community. It didn’t seem crazy. “

Initially provided by GMHC, services included a “buddy” program to help people in their daily lives, such as creating an AIDS hotline and shopping for groceries.

On Friday, November 15, 1985, about 100 demonstrators protested on the steps of New York City Hall as the City Council committee considered a law banning students and teachers from the AIDS virus from public schools. (AP Photo / Rick My Man)

“For the last five years, the gay community has decided to recreate the kind of social welfare we should have if we were recognized and had the support of a family that many did not have. The focus was mainly on it, “Schulman said.

But Kramer, Those who died in 2020, I wanted the service organization to go further.

He continued to advocate and eventually formed the groundbreaking direct action organization ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power).

“The rally felt very strongly that we needed to sound all the alarms. We needed to sound as loud as possible,” says Mass. “What would be good for citizens’ freedom if we all died? That was really a point of view.”

The beginning of act up

Sawyer was one of about 12 people who invited him to attend his now-famous speech, which began a rebellious coalition at the Lesbian and Gay Community Service Center in Manhattan in 1987.

“When Larry called for weapons, we stood up and volunteered, and how resentful we were about what was happening to save the lives of our lovers and ourselves, and participating in that effort. I made a statement about what I was doing, “Sawyer said. “The plan began the next day at Larry’s apartments on Fifth Avenue and Washington Square Park.”

He said the group soon organized demonstrations in front of the Trinity Church on Wall Street and Broadway, stopping traffic during the morning rush hours.

“Civil disobedience while blocking traffic in front of Wall Street while gay men and their supporters, who live primarily with AIDS, stabbed pharmaceutical companies and governments for failing to find a cure. The fact that he was disobedienced and arrested-it was a lot of the press, “he said.

Sawyer said the inaction of the government and the general public has driven him and many others to organize at this time.

“We were also really furious about the stigma, misinformation, and complete abuse that AIDS patients are facing,” he said. “AIDS patients were expelled from their apartments, dismissed from work, and basically disowned by their families. Many AIDS patients lost their apartments, lost their jobs, or were abandoned by their loved ones or family members. , I will live in the street. “

Sawyer eventually founded Housing Works, a non-profit organization that works on AIDS and the homeless.

On Thursday, February 16, 1990, a man sat on the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue and said, “Please help … a homeless veteran suffering from AIDS due to illness … Thank you for God’s blessing …” I have. (AP Photo / Mark Renihan)

“Additions when the government fails to develop medically appropriate housing, fails to obtain a housing organization that allows AIDS patients to live there, or provides housing to AIDS organizations When we couldn’t bear the burden, we said, “Well, if anyone intends to do that, it will have to be us,” Sawyer said of the organization that started as an ACT UP committee.

ACT UP has revolutionized patient care and drug research and has built a model for organizing over the years to come.

Forty years after the AIDS epidemic began, this history of organization is something that Schulman and others want to remember today.

“In a country where many people want serious structural changes, we are in a crisis moment,” Schulman said. “And one of the most difficult to access is the tactical and strategic details of the previous movement. It’s very difficult to get that information, and ACT UP is one of the few social movements that have actually succeeded. It was one. “

Among the achievements of ACT UP: A fast-track system for sick people to access unapproved laboratory drugs. Needle exchange legalized in New York. End insurance exemption for AIDS patients. We then implemented a four-year campaign to change the definition of AIDS at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allowing women to benefit and participate in drug trials.

Despite these achievements, including advances in antiretroviral drugs, many believe that there is still much to do.

“Thanks to these drugs, and thanks to the work of ACT UP activists who played such an important role in this event, people can lead a normal and good life, but there are still cures and preventive vaccines. No, “Misa said.

In 2020, there will be 690,000 AIDS-related deaths worldwide and 1.5 million people infected with HIV. According to UNAIDS..

“We have to stay vigilant about this, and staying vigilant means that the rally may have to do. [Kramer] I did, “Misa said. “He made a lot of noise and offended a lot of people, but he learned that it was very effective and compelling in demonstrating that it was necessary. Lessons are now in front of us and we may have to engage them again. “