#scott robbe

[yourdailyqueer]

Scott Robbe (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 16 February 1955  

RIP: 21 November 2021

Ethnicity: White - American

Occupation: Producer, director, actor, activist

Note: Prominent founding member of both ACT UP and Queer Nation.

[outweek30]

AIDS Activists Storm Stock Exchange, Halting Trading High Price of Burroughs' AZT Under Fire

NEW YORK [September 24, 1989] — For the first time in history, trading at the New York Stock Exchange was interrupted by protesters last Thursday, when seven AIDS activists slipped past security guards and delayed the start of trading by five minutes with a loud and vibrant demonstration.

Shortly after the seven were arrested and taken into custody, at approximately 11:10 am, a crowd — at one point swelling to over 1500 people — began arriving for a raucous, ear-splitting demonstration in front of the Exchange at 30 Broad Street in Manhattan's Financial District.

The protest, organized by ACT UP, targeted the drug company Burroughs Wellcome, maker of Actified, Sudafed, Neosporin and a host of other over-the-counter drugs. Burroughs holds an exclusive patent on the anti-viral drug AZT, which costs individuals an average of $8000 per year, making it the most expensive drug in history. It remains the only federally-approved AIDS treatment proven significantly effective in slowing the progression of AIDS.

Activists demanded the drug be made available free to the millions of people in the U.S. who are now infected with HIV, the virus associated with AIDS.

"There is a myth out there that we're robber barons, ripping people off," David Barry, vice president, research development and medical affairs for Burroughs Wellcome told the Wall Street Journal. "It would be theoretically possible for us to give away all our drug," he continued. "Everyone would get it for a while, and then we'd go bankrupt."

Fake Name Tags

At approximately 9:25 a.m. seven men, all dressed in suits, entered the Stock Exchange using fake Bears Stearns name tags. According to former bond trader Peter Staley, who is the chair of ACT UP's fundraising committee, he and four others then quickly went up to the VIP balcony which overlooks the trading floor, immediately chaining themselves to a bannister and handcuffing themselves to each other. Staley says he looked at the clock at that moment and noticed that it was 9:29:45.

The Exchange opens precisely at 9:30 am, when there is usually a surge of trading. Staley said the five unfurled a banner which read "Sell Wellcome" and hung it from the balcony. They then used loud emergency marine fog horns, attempting to make hearing anything else impossible. Although the trading boards and ticker machines did not stop, it was impossible to verbally communicate and, therefore, most transactions were halted, according to several traders who were on the floor. The Stock Exchange, however, reported that trading was not interrupted.

Times: No Story

Two of the seven protestors had positioned themselves below the balcony and immediately began taking photographs (using cameras which they had smuggled in) when the banner was unfurled. They then quickly walked outside and gave the film to other activists who brought it to the Associated Press, which sent the photo and the story across the country. Reports of the demonstration appeared in all of New York's dailies, except The New York Times, which has come under attack recently for what activists have called its spotty, inaccurate AIDS coverage. The story ran on the front page of the Wall Street Journal; it was also covered by national television networks and most local network affiliates.

Staley said that the chained, hand-cuffed group on the balcony began throwing fake dollar bills out onto the floor, imitating a demonstration by Abbie Hoffman nearly 20 years ago (Hoffman had used real money). The bills were reportedly printed with the slogan, "Fuck your profiteering, we're dying while you play business."

While security guards tried to remove the protestors, traders and brokers surged toward the balcony in large numbers, booing and jeering, according to Staley. "They were angry. They were screaming things like 'Mace the faggots!' and they were throwing wads of paper at us," he told OutWeek.

"You've Seen Faggots Before"

Eva Andersen, a Swedish tourist who was on a tour of the Exchange, said there was a panic on the trading floor at that moment. "It was a bit frightening," she said. "They [the traders] were rushing at them [the protestors]." There was lots of anger and booing." Andersen said the visitors were immediately hurried out by guards. Robert Hilferty, one of the activists who had taken photographs and then walked back into the Exchange, described the traders as “an angry, mobilized mob."

"They were waving their fists, while one trader was yelling to the others: ‘you've seen faggots before, get back to trading!'"

The guards eventually removed the protesters from the Exchange. But at that point, a "witch hunt" ensued, according to Hilferty. "Some traders were looking on the floor for outsiders." Hilferty said a trader looked at him and yelled, "Who the fuck are you!" and ran for him. Within seconds, Hilferty claims, he was being chased by dozens of "blood-thirsty and violent" traders.

Hilferty, a filmmaker, and performance artist Richard Elovich, the other demonstrator who had remained on the Stock Exchange floor, were eventually arrested.

Ear Plugs and Cotton

The other five arrested were: Lee Arsenault, a clothing importer and a self-identified person with AIDS; Gregg Bordowitz, a video producer with the Gay Men's Health Crisis, who has AIDS Related Complex; Scott Robbe, a film producer; James McGrath, a bar owner; and Staley. They were each charged with a Class B misdemeanor for criminal trespass, a Class A misdemeanor for criminal possession of a forged instrument and Class A misdemeanor for criminal impersonation. The seven were held by police for several hours before being released.

About an hour after the men were taken away, a planned demonstration organized by ACT UP took place outside the Stock Exchange. The group, which grew from several hundred to over 1500, set off hundreds of fog horns which echoed through the narrow streets of lower Manhattan, drawing people as high up as the 30th floors of buildings to their windows. Protestors came prepared with ear plugs and cotton, which they also provided to members of the press.

Inside the Exchange, dozens of workers were pressed against the glass doors watching the activities. Some workers later said they didn't leave for lunch for fear that the crowd, which had taken up the entire street, might attack them.

The demonstration was planned to coincide with similar demonstrations in London, where Burroughs' parent company is based, and where the company's stock is traded, and in San Francisco, where the company's major U.S. warehouse is located.

— Michelangelo Signorile, OutWeek Magazine No. 14, September 24, 1989, p. 10.