ACT UP Logo, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, 1987.
ACT UP was formed in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in New York. It was formed in direct response to how the government was ignoring the developing AIDS crisis. The purpose of the organization is to impact the lives of people with AIDS (PWAs) and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and lives.
In the beginning, the organization organized protests and demonstrations in key places and times to help illuminate the issue of AIDS as well as the treatment, and ultimately, the medical research needed for a cure. The group organized protests in Wall Street (March 24, 1987), of the FDA (October 11, 1988), and of the magazine Cosmopolitan for printing an article with false medical facts (January 1988).
The organization still functions today and is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis.
Citation: ACT Up Logo. New York. http://www.actupny.org/ . 1987.
ACT UP Timeline: http://www.actupny.org/documents/capsule-home.html
Article in Rolling Stone Magazine (March 8, 1990): http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/act-up-in-anger-19900308
New York. “Article, Rude, Rash, Effective, Act-Up Shifts AIDS Policy,” January 3, 1990. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/03/nyregion/rude-rash-effective-act-up-shifts-aids-policy.html?pagewanted=all