ACT UP Hones a Tran-Inclusive Message as it Ramps Up for Protest
Trans rights emerged as more than 200 people packed an “emergency town hall” in Manhattan to plot a major protest march this month.
by Simon Feisthauer Fournet
The queer advocacy group ACT UP is gearing up for a major protest in New York this month, honing a broad, unified theme that is focused on protecting health care while reflecting its diversifying membership.
More than 200 people packed an “emergency town hall” last week to run through the messages that will be delivered during a march on March 29 that will also mark the organization’s 38th anniversary. Beginning at the AIDS memorial in Greenwich Village, marchers will proceed to a protest at a Tesla showroom in Manhattan.
Brandon Cuicchi, an organizer, said the group aims to attract 1,000 marchers to evoke the “death by a thousand cuts” confronting all queer people.
Zil Goldstein
For trans advocates, funding for gender-affirming care, protection for clinicians and opposition to anti-trans initiatives top the list of priorities. Specific policy actions need to be emphasized, said Zil Goldstein, a provider with the Callen-Lorde Health Center, which offers care and resources to over 8,000 trans and nonbinary people.
The message to the state legislature, Goldstein said, should be the restoration of funding for gender-affirming care and the strengthening of shield laws to protect clinicians.
ACT UP was created nearly four decades ago by people “united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis.” While its mission remains focused on the eradication of HIV/AIDS, its tent has grown ever larger and more diverse over time.
Brandon Cuicchi
Cuicchi said the organization has evolved to address the intersecting health and civil rights issues facing its members. Its structure now encompasses working groups, including one focused on trans rights, that operate with relative autonomy while remaining connected to ACT UP’s central mission. This flexibility has proven essential as the organization responds to emerging threats, he said.
Its trans working group, for example, has continued to challenge a nonbinding resolution passed last year by a parents council that covers a large swath of Manhattan. The parents council effectively called on the city schools chancellor to revoke current policy that allows trans inclusion in sports. For the past year, ACT UP members have attended meetings of the parents council, urging it to rescind its resolution.
The working group has also highlighted the slow pace of trans-friendly legislation in New York City. Out of 19 bills that address the protection and expansion of trans rights, 16 have effectively been put on the back burner.
Several speakers at the emergency town hall highlighted the Trump administration’s devastating cuts to federal health agencies, from the Centers for Disease Control to the National Institutes of Health, even as it has erased scientific research, historical accounts and the very mention of queer people from official websites.
“People really care about this,” said Mark Hannay, a health care advocate who joined ACT UP in 1991. “All we have to do is reach out and organize people and get them into the streets, get them talking to their members of Congress, get them talking to their neighbors and friends and family about what’s about to happen.”
Dr. Michelle Morse
Dr. Michelle Morse, the acting Health Commissioner for New York City, said that since 2019, New York City has lost upwards of $90 million each year in state public health funding.
“Everybody sees it as definitely tied together,” said Cuicchi of ACT UP. When trans people lack access to appropriate health care, he said, it only heightens their vulnerability to HIV and other health risks — making trans rights fundamentally connected to ACT UP’s mission.
Simon Feisthauer Fournet (he/him) is a French freelance journalist based in New York City mainly covering social justice issues.