The neglectful response from the government in the 1980s towards the AIDS crises was the driving force in the creation of the group ACT UP. ACT UP or the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power was formed in March 1987 “the group focused on demanding quicker drug approvals and access to new treatments for aids sufferers.” (Hoffman 178) ACT UP united blacks, whites, lesbians, gays and straight peoples in a fight for health care as a right and for desperately needed AIDS treatments. On March 24, 1987 ACT UP staged their first major protest on Wall street. They demanded the immediate release of drugs that could possibly save AIDS patients. They demanded affordable prices, public education about AIDS, no double blinded studies when it came to AIDS drugs and the release of drugs to everyone with AIDS or ARC. At this point in time FDA normal procedure would take up to 9 years to release these drugs. No AIDS patient had that kind of time. By 1987, AIDS had killed over 40,000 people becoming one of the leading causes of death and still no 100% effective treatment was on the market since its first appearance in 1980.
On November 1980 a man arrived at Bellevue hospital complaining of shortness of breath and with a fever. A lung biopsy revealed that the 34-year-old man had pneumocystis pneumonia. A few days later a drug addict with a heavy cough and fever appeared and received the same diagnoses. Both were found to have extremely low T cell count. Pneumocystis pneumonia was normally found in cancer patients whose immune system was compromised. Around the same time the NYU Dermatology Clinic began to see men coming in with colored blotches. Biopsies revealed Kaposi’s sarcoma. A rare form of cancer usually found in elderly men from the Mediterranean and transplant patients on immunosuppressant drugs. More and more patients began to appear with these as well as other opportunistic diseases that usually appear in people with immunodeficiency. Doctors were left confused as these diseases were rare and were being seen without other diseases present. The one thing that was common was that whatever it was attacked homosexuals and intravenous drug users. By 1982 New York City had over 500 cases of AIDS. That same year on October 15 at a White House Briefing, Larry Speakes, the White House Press Secretary was asked “Does the president have any reaction to the announcement that AIDS is now an epidemic with over 600 cases?” He replied “No, I don’t know anything about it.” The government would continue to neglect the seriousness of the disease and no blood test would be available until 1985. On April 23, 1984 the National Cancer Institute’s Dr. Gallo identified the HIV virus as the cause of AIDS and developed a test for it. The test itself did not receive licensing until March 2, 1985 because the Institut Pasteur in Paris also claimed they had identified the virus. By late 1985, 3,766 AIDS-related deaths had been recorded. These included homosexuals, Haitians, intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs. Still the Deputy Mayor Victor Botnick insisted New York City had “No AIDS crisis. (Oshinsky 270) President Reagan himself distanced himself from the aids epidemic as he promised to slash domestic spending and wanted to “mollify supporters who saw AIDS as divine retribution for sinful behavior. “(Oshinsky 270)
As research advanced in AIDS the understanding of how it was contracted showed it was a sexually transmitted disease that could not be contracted by a simple touch or proximity to an AIDS patient. This didn’t stop the discrimination and fear of HIV/AIDS and would prompt many private doctors, ems, dentist, funeral homes and nurses to refuse to treat or be near AIDS patients. (Oshinsky 263) Many of those who contracted AIDS were kicked out of their homes or lost their jobs. They were dropped from their insurance companies and were often not Medicaid eligible until they had exhausted all their life savings on medical expenses. Insurance companies would drop or rule people ineligible because of occupations that were associated with gay men or because of their zip code. (Hoffman 179) Vito Russo, an AIDS activist, said in an ACT UP demonstration in Albany, NY
“If it is true that gay men and IV drug users are the populations at risk for this disease,then we have a right to demand that education and prevention be targeted specifically to these people. And it is not happening. We are being allowed to die, while low risk populations are being panicked — not educated, panicked — into believing that we deserve to die.”
ACT UP members were tired of seeing their community dying with no way to stop it. They decided that it was time to take a stance. Although Wall street today looks like a regular street where just daily business and trade goes on, it was once the starting point of an influential group who’s “in your face tactics” brought attention and change to the AIDS community. In the March 24, 1987 protest ACT UP achieved quicker FDA approvals. The group continued its fight and by 1990 Congress passed the AIDS Care Emergency Act “which provided $880 million for the medical care and support of people with AIDS.” (Hoffman 179) ACT UP continued to fight for effective treatments for years as many couldn’t take AZT and its severe side effects. In 1993 a European study disproved the effectiveness of AZT, DDI and drugs with similar AZT effectiveness were useless. In 1995 ACT UP and TAG released a collection of AIDS studies called “Problems with Protease Inhibitors Development Plans” and proposed a study. In 1996, with ACT UP being a part of scientific meetings that discussed AIDS treatments, a triple combination therapy was discovered and proved to be effective in making AIDS patients undetectable within 30 days. AIDS was no longer a death sentence thanks to ACT UP, TAG and scientist that worked together.
Sources:
- Pedoto, Julianne. “The AIDS Crisis in New York City.” History of New York City, blogs.shu.edu/nyc-history/aids-crisis/.
- Aizenman, Nurith. “How To Demand A Medical Breakthrough: Lessons From The AIDS Fight.” NPR, NPR, 9 Feb. 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/09/689924838/how-to-demand-a-medical-breakthrough-lessons-from-the-aids-fight.
- Handelman, David, and David Handelman. “Act Up in Anger.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/act-up-in-anger-241225/.
- France, David, director. How to Survive a Plague. Amazon, 2012
- Schwarz, Jeffrey, director. Vito. Amazon, 2011
- Oshinsky, David. Bellevue – Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at Americas Most Storied. Random House Usa Inc, 2016.
- Hoffman, Beatrix Rebecca. Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930. The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
- Russo, Vito. “Why We Fight.” Why We Fight by Vito Russo, 1988, www.actupny.org/documents/whfight.html.