➤ ACT UP RETURNS, from p.16
“Everybody gets an opinion, and
that’s yours,” the man yelled, waving
his hands in anger. “They have
theirs, too. Now why don’t you move
on to a different location? Move out!
Move out to another spot. Respect
their rights, and I’ll respect yours.
Move on.”
That didn’t faze anyone. Jamie
Bauer, a local activist, immediately
responded.
“All we are asking is that Cardinal
Dolan back up and respect
the rights of LGBTQ New Yorkers,”
Bauer explained before further
condemning Dolan for contributing
to the Church’s disregard for
condoms and PrEP, an HIV prevention
medication. “We say, ‘keep
your rosaries off our ovaries!’”
ACT UP members who were not
yet alive at the time of the 1989
demonstration were also on hand.
Jason Rosenberg, 27, echoed Petrelis
and Bauer’s remarks and
stressed that folks of all genders
need access to abortions — a point
that is often missed in the mainstream
discussion about reproductive
rights.
➤ CATHOLIC CHURCH POWER, from p.16
Center widely viewed as the launch
of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to
Unleash Power, Larry Kramer
said, “If my speech tonight doesn’t
scare the shit out of you, we’re in
trouble.” ACT UP became the go-to
place for AIDS activism.
ACT UP brought together activists
of widely varied talents. If Petrelis
epitomized the brassy demonstrator
unafraid to damn the
establishment, Avram Finkelstein,
the art director at Vidal Sassoon,
worked with other artists to design
posters — including the pink triangle
and Silence=Death designs
that made an indelible mark on
the public imagination. Snipers,
the folks who posted ads on building
walls for rock and disco clubs,
posted ACT UP art all over the city.
Other ACT UP members studied
the science and the public health
bureaucracy that controlled drug
testing, gaining expertise upon
which government scientists over
time came to rely.
It was through this collective effort
that ACT UP gained its prominence
in the fi ght against AIDS,
“We’re saying ‘no more’ to religious
institutions that are affecting
our bodies and affecting our public
health,” he said. “They are against
PrEP, they are against encouraging
healthy sex lives, and they’re
against our bodies. We’re here to
remind everyone that we exist and
that every person, whether they
are non-binary women or trans
men who need to get an abortion,
that they have every right to.”
Once the cathedral doors fully
opened, some activists turned
around and held their signs toward
the inside of the building to deliver
their messages to churchgoers as
they departed. NYPD police offi cers
hovering around the demonstration
stepped in at that point and
confronted the activists, demanding
that they leave the property.
Bauer then gathered protestors to
lead a new chant in unison.
“The NYPD is putting religious
beliefs above the First Amendment
and protecting the Church over
our civil rights,” they said together.
“And this is how it goes forever.
ACT UP! Fight back! Fight AIDS!”
Police offi cers grew increasingly
impatient before activists stepped
off church property moments later.
Churchgoers were expectedly not
impressed.
“The Church’s positions are correct,”
said a man who only would
provide his fi rst name, Peter, who
was there to attend services with a
family member. “I’m a cradle Catholic
and that’s been my position.
I’m not in a position to condemn
my own Church.”
A woman who stood alone appeared
shocked as she observed
the protests. She also voiced her
displeasure with the scene she
watched unfold before her eyes.
“People have their own religious
views,” she uttered. “I respect other
people, so they should just respect
ours. It’s inappropriate.”
The 1989 demonstration drew
widespread outcry in the city because
activists dared to disrupt
a church service considered by
many to be sacred. Mayor-elect David
Dinkins and Governor Mario
Cuomo went so far as to describe
the demonstration as “deplorable,”
according to a New York Times story
from 1990 . But AIDS activists
had no time for cordial exchanges
when people were dying, and they
Ronald Albarracin suffered a black eye and bruises on his face from being beaten.
becoming a key referee in alerting
the public as to who was contributing
to a solution and who was
standing in the way. The group
slammed the drug companies,
forced the government to spend
money on prevention, treatment,
and care, and damned those who
declared that people with AIDS
were evil.
Among these foes was Cardinal
John O’Connor, New York’s archbishop
from 1984 until 2000.
Ann Northrop, the co-host of
USA Today, joined the St. Patrick’s
demonstration because the cardinal
RONALD ALBARRACIN
“was telling the general public
that monogamy would protect
them from HIV infection and that
condoms didn’t work. As far as I
was concerned, these were both
major lies that were going to kill
people.”
According to Charles Kaiser, author
of “The Gay Metropolis,” even
critics of those protesting a church
service — including the gay Catholic
group Dignity — agreed that
O’Connor’s position was immoral.
O’Connor’s supporters and
many other mainstream observers
condemned ACT UP’s 1989 action
felt that the public health concerns
were far more pressing than respecting
religious institutions that
were rejecting them.
The commemoration of the 1989
event comes during a year of increased
focus on historical events
pertaining to the LGBTQ community.
The summertime spotlight
was focused squarely on Stonewall
50, but at that time Petrelis was
simultaneously thinking about organizing
an anniversary event at
the cathedral.
“I knew getting a handful of people
together to come to the steps of
St. Patrick’s Cathedral was a doable
thing,” said Petrelis, who now
lives in San Francisco.
Although the turnout fell far
short of the huge 1989 event, the
activists made their presence
known — and Rosenberg told Gay
City News after the protest that
they would continue protesting
30 years from now if the Catholic
Church and other faith-based institutions
keep it up.
“We’re here to say they need to
do more to step up if they actually
care about people and the well-being
of people,” he said.
at St. Patrick’s, yet the group
managed to put the cardinal on
the defensive and made the nation
rethink sex-negative advice. Activism
forced a better understanding
of how the virus worked and of
the vital importance of condoms.
When all the dust had settled on a
very controversial day that December,
it was the Church struggling
to justify its posture.
By 1990, the focus on condom
use encouraged a new public health
appreciation for harm reduction as
way of reaching people with useful
prevention tools suited to their
lives. Thirty years ago, that was a
matter of survival, not only for gay
men but for many others affected
by the spread of HIV, as well. Today,
HIV isn’t the killer it once was,
but hatred remains lethal, particularly
for transgender people — and
most especially for trans women of
color. Public attitudes toward the
LGBTQ community have changed
dramatically, but policy still matters.
And in Washington every day,
we see the way that regressive policies
embraced by the Trump administration
mean we cannot let
our activist guard down.
GayCityNews.com | December 19, 2019 - January 1, 2020 17
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