Last night at 18th and Castro in San Francisco's Historic Castro District, San Francisco's ACT UP, (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) unveiled banners telling Pink Saturday Celebration goers that AIDS IS NOT OVER AND NEITHER ASE WE! According to one ACT UP member, this is ACT UP V2.0. When asked "why now" he said "Statistics show AIDS Deaths are up, new infection rates, especially among the young, are on an up tick. People are ponce again dieing, at the same time ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Program) is being cut, as well as education and prevention programs. There is a general apathy in the community towards these risky behaviors, and it is time to pick up the sword again and fight for our brother and sister's lives!"
Along with the banners, ACT UP members were seen distributing condoms and doing AIDS education among the mostly young celebration goers.
ACT UP working with OccuPride
Among the banners displayed were ones stating H9OMES FOR PEOPLE, NOT PRISONS FOR PROFIT, and C0MMUNITIES ARE NOT COMMODITIES -OccuPride 2012, showing that obviously the ACT UP members have joined forces with the new OccuPride group, and this was a joint action. OccuPride (bayoccupride.com) is a group that popped up a few months ago to protest the commercialization of the San Francisco Gay Pride Events, and seem to have as their goal to strip back the Pride Events and make it more about promoting Community, than about $5 Rainbow Colored Bud Lights, a Celebration of Community not a glorified Beer Bust is what we would like to see, one Occupier told me.
Other Signs
Other signs drapped from 18th and Castro read "FULLY FUND AIDS CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, NO CO-PAY"
AIDS IS NO PARADE, ACT UP
ACT UP members are doing a lot to try and make people in the community understand that viral mutations are REAL. The current life expectancy for someone HIV+ is 10-15 years less than normal life expectancy, (according to a UK study reported on the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/... ), assuming early HAART treatment and that is if they are lucky enough to be infected with a virus with few mutations and drug resistances. The more mutations the Geno-typing and Pheno-typing show the lower the life expectancy is! The reality is that there are a finite number of AIDS drugs available on the market, and few in the pipeline. Once thew virus mutates and becomes resistant to a drug, it usually takes out that whole class of drugs, which are no longer an effective tool in the war against the virus, and a stronger cocktail, usually with more side effects must be formulated, and a patients drugs changed up. ACT UP is trying to remind and educate the community that life with AIDS is a roller coaster, and a reconstituted immune system is not as effective as an HIV- immune system. ACT UP is really pushing the prevention message, distributing condoms and provide AIDS education to celebration goers.
AIDS STILL KILLS, ACT UP FIGHT BACK
JUSTICE FOR BRANDY.
Transwoman Brandy Martell Killed In Oakland, Martell according to a news report published on the web, she was shot to death April 29 in downtown Oakland at Franklin and 13th Street just a block from city hall while sitting behind the steering wheel of her car.
According to what a witness told Laura Anthony of ABC7, Martell was sitting behind the wheel of her car around 5:15 AM PDT Sunday when one or two men walked up and began a conversation that appeared cordial on the surface but a few moments later one of the men became angry and fired into the car at Martell.
Until late last year, Martell worked as an outreach worker at the Tri-City Health Center in Fremont, CA which serves the local trans community. To all involved it is plainly clear that this is a trans-hate crime, and we are demanding justice in this case and demanding it be prosecuted as a hate crime!
OccuPride and (P)inc also in the house
ACT UP has joined forces with radical activist groups OccuPride and (p) inc. which are calling for the scaling down of the commercialization of the Gay Pride Events in San Francisco.