In the summer of 1981, five gay men were announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be the earliest cases of AIDS in America. As time progressed, the disease impacted seventy-one thousand seven hundred fifty-one people globally by 1987. That same year, ACT UP, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, rose to being, taking action to end the concerns of people living with AIDS. Manifesting the anger and fear of people living with AIDS into confrontational street activism, ACT UP assisted with safe sex education, community care, policy reform, and the push for new combative drugs (Madson). Despite this, ACT UP soon fell under criticism for being a largely white, gay, middle class, group of men who claimed to be “a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united” (Bateman; “ACT Up New York”). ACT UP’s political t-shirts push back on the criticisms presented by addressing the race, gender, and class of those affected by AIDS.

    While ACT UP is predominantly known as an LGBTQ organization against AIDS, its political shirts address more than sexuality. Reaching out to those outside the caucasian demographic, ACT UP’s shirt “Activistas Latinos” utilizes the iconic pink inverted triangle with the north and south American continents, sporting the claim, “Activistas Latinos Contra el Sida”, or Latino activists against AIDS (“Activistas Latinos”). Actively using language as a means of connectivity, ACT UP forged an image of inclusiveness and appealed to demographics usually ignored in previous queer social movements such as The Mattachine Society. ACT UP Chicago cultivated this image further by producing a shirt incorporating multiple languages stating, “Silence = Death”  surrounded by “AIDS is a global crisis” (“AIDS: A Global Crisis”). ACT UP went beyond including different minorities; it actively fought for policy reform for the safety and end of discriminatory practices. Policies led ACT UP demanding the end of HIV/AIDS testing, as ACT UP fought for the protection of immigrants by advocating that AIDS knew no borders. The group argued that those who tested positive should not be deported or denied entry on the basis of their HIV status (“AIDS Knows No Borders”). Through globalizing AIDS, ACT UP connected and fought for people from a multitude of backgrounds including immigrants or those whose first language was not English.

    Outside of racial identities, ACT UP played attention to the role that gender impacted those affected. In 1990, members of ACT UP Los Angeles gathered to form the Women’s Caucus to empower women combating HIV (Roth 130-131). Benita Roth, an attendee of ACT UP Los Angeles, asserts in “Feminist Boundaries in Feminist-Friendly Organization: The Women’s Caucus of ACT UP/LA”,  friendliness toward feminism in ACT UP gave women the power to design their own shirts, mindful of women’s bodily when it came to the layout (134, 137, 144). Out of this movement, ACT UP Chicago produced shirts promoting the use of dental dams, condoms, and latex gloves for same-sex relations between women. (“Mary Asked Sue to Come to Dinner”). As ACT UP aimed for visibility, allowing minorities within its own group to create t-shirts with their bodies in mind and with relevant information to them, opposed the idea that ACT UP was unattentive to those who were not gay men. Evident through their t-shirts, ACT UP acknowledged women’s voices and took steps to educate safe sex practices for women.

    Additionally, in light of these intersections, ACT UP was attentive to the class relations of those affected by AIDS. With trial medicines for HIV/AIDS costing thousands of dollars per year, ACT UP’s use of t-shirts is worth acknowledging. Opposed to The Mattachine Society, who required suits and tie for men and dresses for women, ACT UP had no formal required dress (Peacock). Collective t-shirts worn by ACT UP members meant an inexpensive way to unite individuals across identities. T-shirt themselves are easily distributed and are worn by all people in society. These shirts transcend time so that they can be handed down from person to person, unlike suits or dresses which can fall out of style. Taking small actions such as dress, ACT UP revolutionized its membership to be inclusive no matter one’s income. Attentiveness to income allowed for participation from those who were aiding those suffering from the effects of AIDS, those who were paying for possible drug treatments to prolong their lives, and those facing classism. Beyond dress code, messages of policy reform scattered across ACT UP’s t-shirts combatting its middle-class image by demanding education to be federally funded and a free, nationalized health care system to fight the disease (“ACT UP San Francisco”).  ACT UP challenged classism not only by its use of t-shirts themselves but for fighting for policy reform as well.

    Despite being seen as a gay, male, middle-class activist group, ACT UP’s archival t-shirts combat this image. Unlike its predecessor, The Mattachine Society, ACT UP veered from respectability politics and dawned its members with t-shirts. These shirts were fluid with each chapter of ACT UP, addressing classism, gender, and race at local levels. In turn, these local chapter t-shirts led to the inclusion of minorities, increasing membership. As a large and powerful group composed of women, men, immigrants, queer-identified people, and a multitude of races, ACT UP dominated street activism as they fought for policy reform becoming one of the most iconic and inclusive activist groups of its time.

(November 2016)

Works Cited

Activistas Latinos,” Wearing Gay History, accessed November 14, 2016,

    http://wearinggayhistory.com/items/show/1952.

“ACT UP New York.” ACT UP New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

“AIDS: A Global Crisis,” Wearing Gay History, accessed November 14, 2016,

    http://wearinggayhistory.com/items/show/855.

“AIDS Knows No Borders,” Wearing Gay History, accessed November 14, 2016,

    http://wearinggayhistory.com/items/show/3075.

Bateman, Geoffrey W. “Act Up.” GLBTQ Social Sciences (2015): 1-4. LGBT Life with Full Text.

    Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Madson, Nathan H. “The Legacy Of Act Up’s Policies And Actions From 1987-1994.” National

    Lawyers Guild Review 69.1 (2012): 45-64. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

“Mary Asked Sue to Come to Dinner,” Wearing Gay History, accessed November 14, 2016,

    http://www.wearinggayhistory.com/items/show/849.

Peacock, Kent W. “Race, The Homosexual, And The Mattachine Society Of Washington,

    1961-1970.” Journal Of The History Of Sexuality 25.2 (2016): 267-296. LGBT Life with Full Text. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.