AIDS is not Over: The Resurrection of ACT UP

To mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and commemorate the lives of almost 20,000 San Franciscans who have died since the epidemic began, people with HIV/AIDS and the AIDS activist community will gather on Friday, April 6-- Good Friday, for a march from the Mission to the Castro.

The march will link the issues of gentrification and lack of
affordable housing faced by people with HIV/AIDS and our communitiesvtoday by starting at Wells Fargo, a major profiteer of the housing crisis. The march will continue to the steps of Mission Dolores Church, marking Good Friday and protesting the Catholic Church's continued role of condemning people to die of AIDS globally and repression of sexual freedom and health here at home-- by blocking access to condoms, and restricting access to reproductive health and abortion. Ashes of those who died during the epidemic in SF will be placed on the steps of Dolores Church.

"San Franciscans died of AIDS. 20,000 of us. Almost 16,000 of us are living with HIV today. ACT UP was founded to take on the powers of economic violence and sexual repression that interfere to this very day in efforts to save lives," said X of ACT UP, "Wells Fargo has made billions which people with HIV/AIDS struggle to survive and stay in this city. Its 25 years since we started ACT UP and the Catholic Church is still to blame. This Good Friday we will mourn our dead and fight like hell for the living here in San Francisco and around the world."

The 25th anniversary of ACT UP is commemorated by today's activists and the Occupy movement. ACT UP was known for a confrontational and effective style of direct action that has been widely influential to organizer in today's movements-- Occupy SF and Occupy Oakland. Wells Fargo is at the center of protest for affordable housing and an end to private prison profiteering-- issues of major importance to people with AIDS and the
queer community.

The march will end at Harvey Milk Plaza in a commemoration of ACT UP and the many lives lost to HIV/AIDS, featuring a reading of the names of activists in our community who died during the epidemic in the Bay Area. All are welcome to attend.