The Start of the National Aids Movement: Act Up's Defining Moment In Queer Protest History, Oct 1988

- The Guardian, Oct. 11, 2023. Ed.- Desperate Aids patients and their allies in the 80s confronted the US government and ushered in a new era of forceful protests -

On a chilly October morning in 1988, about 1,500 protesters descended upon a nondescript glass office building in suburban Rockville, Md. They were Aids patients, friends and queer activists from all over the country protesting what they saw as the failures of the US Food and Drug Administration to approve medications to fight Aids. The disease had already killed at last 45,000 Americans in less than a decade. As amused and quizzical government employees watched from the windows, protesters marched in circles in front of kitted-up riot police.

The protesters lifted posters in the air, many with the now-iconic image of a bloody handprint and the words: “The government has blood on its hands; one Aids death every half hour.” They chanted: “52 will die today/ Seize control of the FDA!” From within the crowd emerged 27-year-old activist and Aids patient Peter Staley, wearing a knapsack containing a rolled-up banner proclaiming Act Up’s slogan, “Silence=Death”, and a roll of tape, headed straight for FDA’s front door.

“I didn’t think I was going to survive 5 years beyond that moment,” Staley told the Guardian this week.

So he did what he could to draw attention to their plight. With a boost from friends, Staley catapulted on to the concrete awning over the entryway, a makeshift stage in front of the crowd. “I just quickly leaned over, pulled the banner out, started hanging it up,” Staley recalled. “People started noticing, they started chanting as I was slowly getting the banner fully enrolled. And after I got the last corner up, I turned around and raised my arms in victory. And the place just went nuts.” Photos of a young Peter Staley triumphantly raising the “Silence=Death” banner at the FDA became the iconic image of this watershed moment in queer protest history.

This demonstration, called “Seize Control of the FDA”, on 11 October 1988, was the 1st major national action of the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, or Act Up.

Now, on the 35th anniversary of the event, activists still working on Aids and LGBTQ+ activism look toward “Seize Control of the FDA” as inspiration for the work left to be done. “Small groups of people, as long as they have a lot of determination and are highly strategic, can create change and create change pretty quickly depending on the issue,” said Staley, who is now 62 years old. “It is worth noting that the FDA caved to almost all of our demands within 9 months, within a year after that demonstration.” That included a parallel-track clinical drug trial program by which even patients not in the official trial group could access potentially life-saving medications, and a new FDA rule promising faster development of Aids drugs, a key request from the protesters...

- More, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/11/act-up-hiv-aids-1988-fda-protest