07/03/2026
Established in 1987 by Larry Kramer, ACT UP ("AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power") was the first official group created to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic. Dozens of chapters throughout the United States and around the world sought to both find a cure for AIDS and provide accurate information and awareness of the disease, particularly at a time when lack of action on the part of governments and misinformation led to anti-gay prejudice and increased deaths. ACT UP was most active in the DC area, because of the proximity to government, in New York City--an epicenter of the epidemic--and other locations like Atlanta, where the Centers for Disease Control is based. On May 21, 1990 over 1,000 protestors at NIH in Bethesda showed up to demand more AIDS treatments and an end to the under-representation of women and people of color in clinical trials. In September of 1991, in protest of the anti-gay rhetoric of Senator Jessie Helms, who stated that there were no cases of AIDS in the United States that were not caused by gay s*x, ACT UP sheathed Helms’ house in a giant condom. ACT UP organized a funeral procession from the Capitol to the White House on October 11, 1992, with some participants scattering the ashes of loved ones who had died of AIDS on the White House lawn. ACT UP did perform a sit-in, demanding that the Catholic Church change its stance on teaching about safe-s*x and condom use as a means to prevent infection and save lives. However, that demonstration occurred at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, not the National Cathedral.
