{"id":172818,"date":"2026-03-24T00:33:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172818\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:33:36","slug":"act-up-honors-mark-milano-targets-ice-and-palantir-at-39th-anniversary-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172818\/","title":{"rendered":"ACT UP honors Mark Milano, targets ICE and Palantir at 39th anniversary rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the evening of Thursday, March 12, 1987, while most New Yorkers headed home from work, approximately 300 people gathered at the LGBT Community Center in the West Village to form the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, ACT UP. They were galvanized by a speech the gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer gave two days earlier, calling for the creation of a group that would bring attention to a crisis that was already costing millions of people\u2019s lives, but that was being overlooked by every level of government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, on March 24th, ACT UP<\/a> held its first action on Wall Street, protesting the profiteering drug company Burroughs Wellcome, which sold the first approved AIDS treatment drug AZT for $8-$10,000 annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thirty-nine years later, on Saturday, March 21, ACT UP commemorated its 39th anniversary in sunny, spring weather at the NYC AIDS Memorial Park on Greenwich Avenue. Through a day of rallying, marching, and reflecting, activists of all ages marked the progress they have made, while continuing their fight to end the AIDS epidemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat ACT UP built doesn\u2019t belong to the history books, it belongs to us right now on this street, in this fight,\u201d Jennifer Flynn Walker, a longtime activist and chief of the fightback team at the grassroots coalition Popular Democracy, told a crowd of hundreds, who chanted, as is tradition, \u201cACT UP, Fight Back, Fight AIDS!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know we started ACT UP to try to create a sense of urgency and let the general public know that something had to be done about the AIDS response,\u201d said Eric Sawyer, a founding member, who recalled Kramer calling him to help organize the first action.<\/p>\n

\"EricEric Sawyer delivers remarks at the NYC AIDS Memorial on ACT UP\u2019s 39th anniversary.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we were pretty effective in creating a global AIDS response,\u201d he said, recounting the fight to fund AIDS treatment and prevention worldwide, including the 2023 founding of PEPFAR \u2014 the President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief \u2014 which has faced significant disruptions under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that shows how out of sync their priorities are, how much we have to go to the streets, to do just what that chant is saying. Demand that money be paid, be spent for healthcare, not for ICE,\u201d Sawyer said, referring to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of ACT UP participate in a die-in near Palantir\u2019s Manhattan office.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

Activists also took the opportunity to mourn the death of ACT UP activist Mark Milano<\/a>, who passed away in January after a long battle with cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen ACT UP was at its height, Mark was there, and when the crowds thinned, when the meetings went from 100s to dozens to a handful of people in the room, Mark was still there,\u201d said Walker. \u201cMark Milano had the loudest voice in the room, not just the biggest lungs, but the clearest, loudest moral vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JenniferJennifer Flynn Walker pays tribute to Mark Milano.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

His moral vision led him to challenge Al Gore when the former Vice President intended to obstruct access to HIV treatment in South Africa due to trade pressure. In recent years it led him to organize with Rise and Resist<\/a>, a nonviolent direct action group founded in response to Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 election, founded in-part by ACT UP members, that co-sponsored Saturday\u2019s rally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the very end, Mark wanted to be a part of the progressive movement, to fight for rights, for human rights, whether it\u2019s AIDS, whether it\u2019s fighting a fascist government,\u201d Milano\u2019s husband, Gerry Valero, shared.<\/p>\n

Activists also highlighted battles they are fighting close to home, within New York City, including pressuring the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to extend the hours of its free Sexual Health Clinics<\/a> to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from their current 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., passing the New York Health Act<\/a>, and adding the drug Naltrexone<\/a> to New York\u2019s AIDS Drug Assistance Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACTACT UP\u2019s Amanda Lugg.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

After the hour-long rally concluded, activists marched behind banners reading \u201cMoney for AIDS + Health Care\u201d and \u201cNot for ICE + Warfare,\u201d as they headed to the New York City offices of the technology company Palantir, which is contracted by ICE<\/a> to track immigrants using artificial intelligence systems for $30 million, and is also being used by the U.S. government<\/a> in its war on Iran, at Sixth Avenue and West 18th Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPalantir is a tool of the American oligarchy,\u201d ACT UP member Ryan Foster said. \u201cAnd we want Palantir out of New York!\u201d
\n\"CallingRyan Foster speaks out alongside a sign denouncing Palantir.Donna Aceto\n<\/p>\n

Since 2023, the company has also signed a nearly $4 million contract with NYC Health + Hospitals to help it track down payments, according to reporting by The Intercept. The City\u2019s public hospital system\u2019s CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz said at a hearing last week<\/a> that the contract would end in October and not be renewed, adding that there is \u201can absolute firewall\u201d that prevents them from sharing information with ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Half-a-dozen ACT UP protestors sat in the street in front of the offices, chanting \u201cWe\u2019re Here! We\u2019re Queer! We Won\u2019t Stop Fighting Palantir!\u201d and were ultimately not arrested, despite threats from police.<\/p>\n

\"JimJim Eigo carries the banner during ACT UP\u2019s March 21 demonstration.Donna Aceto
\n\"TheThe NYC (dis)Order of Sisters.Donna Aceto
\n\"JayJay W. Walker speaks at the NYC AIDS Memorial.Donna Aceto
\n\"IvyIvy Kwan Arce and Mark Hannay.Donna Aceto
\n\"NewNew Alternatives\u2019 Kate Barnhart participates in the die-in.Donna Aceto
\n\"MattieMattie Beaton during the die-in.Donna Aceto<\/p>\n

\t