• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

AIDS Activist Peter Staley Is Ready to Get Arrested Fighting Trump: INTERVIEW

December 15, 2016 by Tim Murphy Leave a Comment

 

Peter Staley was one of the driving forces in ACT UP, the pioneering 1980s-90s AIDS street activist group that did outrageous things like covering the home of right-wing Senator Jesse Helms in a giant condom to push for better HIV/AIDS research, services and laws.

Daily ResistThese days, in addition to being a major figure in How to Survive a Plague, David France’s epic new account of the raging ACT UP years, he’s been teaching activism 101 to Harvard undergrads.

Here, he gets super-specific about what activists will have to do to gain traction against Trump in the years ahead, especially to protect health care. (For one thing, he says, stop wasting your energy on turning the Electoral College!)

“The necessity of large demos is going to be a key component of anti-Trumpism,” he says. To those ends, he urges everyone who can — woman, man or otherwise — to join him at the Women’s March on D.C. on Jan. 21. And he stresses that public protest usually doesn’t entail getting arrested — though if you plan to, work in a coalition to do it the smart way and make it count. Staley certainly plans to.

 

If you really wanna change something, you better know the subject backwards and forwards.

 

Some highlights from the interview:

“ACT UP was known for doing its homework and becoming experts in the issues that we were fighting for. If you really wanna change something, you better know the subject backwards and forwards.”

“We need to pick the right targets. In a sense, ACT UP had it easy because we were largely just fighting the AIDS epidemic and our issues were pretty obvious and our targets were within a narrow range. What we’re facing now is an overwhelming number of possible targets and it’s confusing, it feels overwhelming, it boggles the mind, it makes you feel almost defeated before you start. So that’s gonna be a real challenge. We have to look at what’s in the range of the possible. A lot of the early targeting since the election, demanding recounts or an Electoral College revolt, is pretty much doomed to fail.”

“I plan on going to the Women’s March in D.C. I think everyone who can go should go. What a statement it will be if we can get enough people down there that it instantly becomes known as the largest gathering in D.C.’s history. To have that happen on the first day of a presidency, Americans coming together to say, ‘This president does not represent us, we will not stand silently by for this scam artist.’ It will be a sign to the rest of the world that this is a very, very different game we’re facing.”

 

Everyone has to add a little bit of activism to their life. I’m not saying you have to get arrested — I’m talking about legal demonstrations.

 

“Republicans are saying that they want to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare, but the ‘replace’ stuff is bullshit. Medicare and Medicaid have huge constituencies relying on them and we can use those bodies at protests. We need some sort of Standing Rock action on health care that’s persistent and can grow over time. I don’t know whether the best target is Paul Ryan’s house outside D.C. with hundreds of people legally protesting and some kind of legal encampment where they can stay every night. That’s something I’m thinking about.”

“We’re in this mess today because too many of us sat on the sidelines. Everyone has to add a little bit of activism to their life. I’m not saying you have to get arrested — I’m talking about legal demonstrations. We just need you to show up at one or two huge anti-Trump rallies every year. We’re gonna needs tens of thousands of bodies in the street for this fight. Follow what’s happening online by reading quality sources like the Atlantic, the New York Times, Democracy Now. Get over your bitching about the Times. They are still doing the most hard-hitting journalism in the country and you should be paying for your subscription.”

“Give a small monthly donation to the ACLU and also to a smaller direct-action group like Health GAP. Local civil-disobedience groups really need your help to pull of their actions.”

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: aclu, ACT UP, activism, Daily Resist, Donald Trump, Health Care, HIV/AIDS, Medicaid, Medicare, Peter Staley, protests

Recent Posts

  • DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    6 mins ago
  • Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    14 hours ago
  • Rudy Giuliani, Ken Jones, FAA, Andy Murray, Brian Littrell, Andrew Yang, Harold Bornstein, Snapchat, Six Feet Under: HOT LINKS

    Rudy Giuliani, Ken Jones, FAA, Andy Murray, Brian Littrell, Andrew Yang, Harold Bornstein, Snapchat, Six Feet Under: HOT LINKS

    16 hours ago
  • Lindsey Graham Says Impeaching Trump Post-Presidency is Wrong: ‘Why Don’t We Impeach George Washington? He Owned Slaves’ — WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Says Impeaching Trump Post-Presidency is Wrong: ‘Why Don’t We Impeach George Washington? He Owned Slaves’ — WATCH

    19 hours ago
Previous Post: « Martin Sheen, Moby, BD Wong, Debra Messing, and Other Celebs Call on Electoral College to Reject Trump: WATCH
Next Post: Peter Thiel, Pegasus, Bear Magazine, Chris Pratt’s Pits, Paris is Burning, Fruitcake: HOT LINKS »

Primary Sidebar

  • DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

  • Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

  • Rudy Giuliani, Ken Jones, FAA, Andy Murray, Brian Littrell, Andrew Yang, Harold Bornstein, Snapchat, Six Feet Under: HOT LINKS

Recent Posts

  • DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    6 mins ago
  • Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    14 hours ago
  • Rudy Giuliani, Ken Jones, FAA, Andy Murray, Brian Littrell, Andrew Yang, Harold Bornstein, Snapchat, Six Feet Under: HOT LINKS

    Rudy Giuliani, Ken Jones, FAA, Andy Murray, Brian Littrell, Andrew Yang, Harold Bornstein, Snapchat, Six Feet Under: HOT LINKS

    16 hours ago
  • Lindsey Graham Says Impeaching Trump Post-Presidency is Wrong: ‘Why Don’t We Impeach George Washington? He Owned Slaves’ — WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Says Impeaching Trump Post-Presidency is Wrong: ‘Why Don’t We Impeach George Washington? He Owned Slaves’ — WATCH

    19 hours ago
  • This Heartwarming Viral Gay Doritos Ad Needs No Translation: WATCH

    This Heartwarming Viral Gay Doritos Ad Needs No Translation: WATCH

    20 hours ago
  • Tilda Swinton: ‘I Always Felt I Was Queer … It’s My World’

    Tilda Swinton: ‘I Always Felt I Was Queer … It’s My World’

    21 hours ago
  • QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Vows to File Impeachment Articles Against Joe Biden on His First Day in Office: WATCH

    QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Vows to File Impeachment Articles Against Joe Biden on His First Day in Office: WATCH

    22 hours ago
  • Siegfried & Roy’s Siegfried Fischbacher Has Died at 81, Eight Months After Losing Roy Horn

    Siegfried & Roy’s Siegfried Fischbacher Has Died at 81, Eight Months After Losing Roy Horn

    22 hours ago
  • Lady Gaga to Sing National Anthem at Biden Inauguration

    Lady Gaga to Sing National Anthem at Biden Inauguration

    22 hours ago
  • Trump Issues Lie-Filled  Video Statement After He is Impeached for Second Time: WATCH

    Trump Issues Lie-Filled Video Statement After He is Impeached for Second Time: WATCH

    22 hours ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Log in