Five AIDS activists, employed as waiters and waitresses on the Gracie Mansion staff, zapped Mayor Koch Sunday, September 10 [1989] at a reception at the mayor's residence. They took the mayor and his staff by surprise, chanting "City AIDS care is a lie, Koch campaigns while people die." The protesters, Tom Blewitt, Heidi Dorow, Tom Keane, Frank Smithson and Ellen Spiro, are all members of ACT UP. Blewitt, Dorow and Keane had been previously employed by the Gracie Mansion catering staff.
The five worked preparing and serving lunch until the mayor began his speech, when they left their posts and went through the mansion to a porch directly behind the mayor, Blewitt with a sign he had carried through the mansion above his head disguised as a serving tray. Smithson, who was assigned to grilling hot dogs, reportedly left the wieners to burn.
According to Blewitt, after the group began holding up the signs behind the mayor and chanting, the mayor stopped his speech and turned around. "He turned beet red, and started shaking his head. Then he went green, still shaking his head. Then he turned white," Blewitt said. They were eventually ejected by the police.
Outside, the activists attempted to distribute fact sheets as the guests, who were workers in adult literacy programs, left the reception. Some expressed support for the action; comments included "God Bless You," "Right On," and the thumbs up.
However, Pat Del Bello, who oversees events at Gracie Mansion, refused to comment.
— Sandor Katz, OutWeek Magazine No. 14, September 24, 1989, p. 22. Photo by Ellen Spiro.
