From Joe.My.God. http://www.towleroad.com/2007/03/activist_larry_.html#more
A history lesson for the masses, circa one of the founders of ACT UP!
Even if you don't have AIDS, don't know anyone who is poz, never lost someone you really cared for (or hundreds of such someones), or have never faced an HIV Test, ACT UP watched your back. The members of ACT UP, fed up with a system that seem paralyzed by the AIDS pandemic, realized they had nothing to lose. Many of them were dying, and they became the most amazing and successful agent for change ever to rock modern America. I would argue even more so than the civil rights movement. The country didn't know what hit them, and sadly ACT UP!'s successes won't be taught in most history classes.
ACT UP brought accountability to the FDA, the NIH, the Catholic Church, and both political parties. The one blood stain on Ronald Reagon's legacy that his supporters will never be able to shake is Reagon's blatent silence regarding a virus on the rampage. History will not judge Reagon kindly on this matter.
But ACT UP wasn't just about AIDS. Any person in this country who has faced a life threatening disease owes the visionaries of ACT UP gratitude. Maybe you've just been given a new heart drug or a new cancer treatment drug, or maybe you've been given access to some new fast tracked procedure that was developed less than a year ago, ACT UP! is the bulldozer that made these sorts of changes in health care access possible. They shook up the system, untangled bureaucracy, and streamlined research.
Read the history. Feel the anger. Visualize the possibilities of change. Remember, it's never too late to ACT UP!
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