"ACT UP started out in Chicago as Dykes and Gay Men Against Racism/ Repression ( DAGMAR ) , which was originally an affinity group back in '84; we marched as a contingent in the Pride Parade. The group focused on issues that weren't necessarily identified with gay and lesbian issues, particularly race issues in the United States and abroad. I was a part of that group from the beginning, and the other people in that group were for the most part folks that came out of the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and the Prairie Fire organizing committee ...
"So back in the summer of '87 there was some terrible reactionary AIDS legislation that came up in the state and we decided to organize this 24-hour vigil outside ( Gov. ) Jim Thompson's house. This was around the time when right-wing politicians were using the AIDS epidemic as a referendum against gay rights and they wanted to quarantine people with AIDS.
"Gov. Jim Thompson was at the time planning to sign this legislation. So we organized this vigil in front of his place in Uptown. We had meetings at the time, at a gallery called Axe Street Arena, it was in Logan Square, then others in people's houses. I was already an activist at the time and, being an anarchist, I wanted to fight AIDS through street activism as opposed to doing social service work. The 24-hour vigil and demonstration was very successful, and some people chained themselves to the fence the following day. It was a Saturday and a Sunday. Sunday, that's when the civil disobedience occurred, but nobody got arrested.
"From there people decided that DAGMAR would be an AIDS activist organization. We became ACT UP a year later. I think it was the end of October '88, it was after we returned from the first major demonstration in D.C. against the FDA."
Getting through security ...
"We were pretty savvy, we figured out different strategies of getting into places, sometimes we knew someone on the inside, or sometimes we appeared as sweater type people and we would come out with a bang. I never got arrested, but I got close a few times."
The end ...
"What happened was that throughout the existence of ACT UP, a combination of splits occurred within the chapter. Around '90 there was a split between those folks who thought AIDS should be concentrated on as a single issue, meaning we should deal with treatment issues of white gay male AIDS, versus those who thought that AIDS should be linked with the issues of race, gender etc. Neither faction cared a whole lot about class, but I did. In 1990 there was a big split: Danny Sotomayor started Cure AIDS Now and months later a guy named Dan Don started ACT UP Windy City."
What do you think you achieved?
"We helped people with AIDS feel a sense of accomplishment and pride, to take their lives in their own hands as opposed to having some kind of defeatist attitude. Also, people are living longer because we pushed for more drugs on the market and lessened the restrictions for the release of those drugs. Another contribution to the defeat of ACT UP was Clinton got elected in '92 and there was this idea that we can retire, we now have someone in the White House that's going to do something for us, for the GLBT/AIDS community. That was a mistake."
Gay press coverage ...
"It was a mixed bag, we got a lot of exposure, but as far as slant, there were times where they didn't like us, didn't like what we were doing, especially if we targeted people that certain elements of the gay establishment liked. Like, if we attacked someone from the Health Department, or Daley, or a figure from within the gay and lesbian community, or connected with the Democratic Party machine. Sometimes we were attacked, but a lot of times they were happy we were out there because we did the dirty work for the nice gay establishment or service organizations. We would be able to get them resources, or more funding, or whatever they wanted to do to fight AIDS."
Hall of Fame 2000 ...
"We thought it was important to make a statement that AIDS is still a viable issue. At the same time we thought it was important to keep it high profile. Then also we thought it important to spread that verbally, because previously people had just accepted their award and didn't give any speeches, so we decided to give some kind of presentation. A few people turned their heads and acted like they didn't know us, and didn't want to know us, and there were also people who quietly cheered, and people who said they were glad we were there."
Poor People of Color Caucus ...
"ACT UP had been founded in Chicago by people from Prairie Fire and John Brown, and they had a position that people of color should be doing outreach to people of color. Although they believed in fighting racism they thought that people of color should organize within their own community and all white people should fight racism by themselves.
"So because of that I tried to have discussions with people about outreach to people of color, and after a while I decided nothing was accomplished. I wanted to reach out to people of color and poor working class people, gay, lesbian, straight, a pro-queer, pro-liberation point of view. So I helped start this caucus with help from my friend Paul ( Stensland ) . We came together and had a conference on AIDS activism at a church in Rogers Park, and that was a success. Then we did tabling at a lot of events like the Pow Wow and others on the South Side.
"That caucus lasted 'til about '91 and like in the larger group, people had different ideas. There were also people disgusted with attitudes from the white people in ACT UP and they just gave up. So eventually the caucus fell apart by the fall of '91."
Memory check: According to Windy City Times Aug. 20, 1987, the vigil outside of Gov. Thompson's house took place Aug. 15 -16, 1987. It was organized by an ad-hoc group called Dykes and Gay Men Against The Right ( DAGMAR ) . The demo was to urge Thompson to veto recently passed Illinois legislation calling for mandatory HIV antibody testing and contact tracing.
