AIDS and ACT-UP
ACT UP is an activist movement that stands for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Founded by Larry Kramer in 1987, the organization representing the movement fights to end the AIDS crisis. The ACT UP movement first urged the FDA to undergo changes by encouraging the funding of drug therapies for AIDS, speeding the process of drug approval, and being inclusive in clinical trials. The movement split into two groups: activists and scientists. The activists would focus on civil rights and protests while the scientists would focus on gathering data and finding solutions, and each used its own means to achieve the same end.
In 1990, the year Tom died, ACT UP had successfully made a way for HIV-positive patients to take selected drugs by pressuring the FDA, and this approach was called the ‘parallel track’. They also changed the narrow definition of AIDS to a more comprehensive and representative one, issuing it as a public health care subject. Finally, they accelerated medication tests which allowed patients with HIV to recognize their infection faster and thus treat it before it was too late. Overall, ACT UP continued to strive for achieving its main objectives, which include: investing in research for new HIV/AIDS medicines and treatments, making HIV/AIDS care accessible to everyone, and addressing the stigma, poverty, and discrimination that is derived from the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Having such a movement in the peak of the spread of AIDS and with systemic homophobia changed the ‘gay identity in several ways. Its scientific research challenged the misconceived notion that AIDS was a disease started by and spread by gay men as it provided data indicating its escalating presence in females and heterosexuals. Their advocacy also gave voice to the LGBT-Q community who have been historically oppressed and marginalized by society and policies. They were given space to fight for their rights, to mobilize, and communicate with one another in solidarity. The ‘gay identity was thus made more complex and was collectivized to no longer being associated with one stereotypical group, nor to an individual’s orientation, but to a diversified community of proud individuals. ACT UP also attempted to disassociate the ‘gay identity from the disease and shed light on their individuality and complexity.
For more information about ACT UP, watch the documentary How To Survive A Plague: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124803/