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Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media.

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Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff,

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Speaker 2: your weekly podcast in which your host is very excited

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Speaker 2: and happy because she thought that she was out of snacks.

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Speaker 2: But then she went and she put a stool next

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Speaker 2: to the cabinet and looked at the top, at the

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Speaker 2: back of the top cabinet and found a whole bunch

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Speaker 2: of protein bars that were just passed where my arm

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Speaker 2: can reach.

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Speaker 1: So I didn't think it take you to get desirable

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Speaker 1: snacks these days, Like what's the You have to like

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Speaker 1: plant it out in your week.

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Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, this is a thing. I live early enough

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Speaker 2: that shipping takes often about a week for anything I

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Speaker 2: order online and then a lot of the stuff around me,

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Speaker 2: if they don't sell it at Walmart, I probably can't

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Speaker 2: get it, so I thought. I.

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Speaker 3: But I will say, you don't have to live in

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Speaker 3: a rural area. You just have to live with a

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Speaker 3: tall man who likes butterfingers or whatever, because he will Matt,

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Speaker 3: my husband will hide all of the snacks like out

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Speaker 3: of my reach. Literally, there's like so much. There's a

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Speaker 3: wonderland of like bad snacks that like a child would eat,

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Speaker 3: like nerds ropes. Yeah, that are the top shelf, and

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Speaker 3: I like, haven't seen it.

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Speaker 2: We are getting you a step stool.

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Speaker 3: A fucking kitchen. Yeah, I don't even want to know

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Speaker 3: what's up there. I really don't.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, I just befriend tall women.

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Speaker 2: I even identify as a tall woman.

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Speaker 3: You are a tall woman, but you needed a stool

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Speaker 3: to get the snacks.

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Speaker 2: And that's the thing is, I think I'm tall enough

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Speaker 2: that I don't need a stool. When I finally I

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Speaker 2: got a stool for other people so when people come

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Speaker 2: over they can like get the stuff out of my cabinets.

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Speaker 2: And then I left it in my kitchen after one

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Speaker 2: of my friends left, and I was like, this is

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Speaker 2: so nice. You know that the cabinet that goes above

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Speaker 2: the fridge, that's like where you put stuff to die.

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Speaker 2: You know that you are never ever going to think about, You're.

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Speaker 3: Never gonna find you never get it.

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Speaker 1: I just can't use it.

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Speaker 2: Now thanks to the wonder of the step stool.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 2: See.

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Speaker 1: See, for me, I've realized I am the only short

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Speaker 1: person that I am friends with all of my friends.

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Speaker 2: That's actually you have a lot of friends of all

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Speaker 2: genders who are very tall.

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Speaker 1: I have all I am I am inclusive with my

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Speaker 1: tall friends. They're they're all tall, and I look like

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Speaker 1: their child.

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Speaker 3: They're just all the time, all the time.

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Speaker 1: But I never have to worry about somebody reaching things

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Speaker 1: for me because one of them is always around. And

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Speaker 1: then I get to go, hey, can you do that thing?

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Speaker 1: And they you know everything we talked about, the thing

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Speaker 1: we talked about, and then they get something down for me,

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Speaker 1: and then I watch and it's fun.

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Speaker 2: And this podcast is based on the idea that you

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Speaker 2: already listened to part one, so you know who's talking,

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Speaker 2: but in case you don't, I'm Margaret Kiljoy. Guests here

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Speaker 2: is Francesca Fiorentini Hi, and producer is Sophie Lichterman. Our

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Speaker 2: audio engineer who's not here is Danel High. Daniel soub Sophie.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Danel Hi, buddy, I love you.

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Speaker 2: It's at the point I think I've mentioned this before.

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Speaker 2: It's at the point where now I like, if everyone

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Speaker 2: doesn't say Hi, Daniel, I get like it's confused and

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Speaker 2: everything's going to be terrible. But our theme music was

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Speaker 2: written for us by un woman. Yeah, and our heroes

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Speaker 2: of today are act up and they we did the

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Speaker 2: we did the like big picture a little bit on

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Speaker 2: a lot of the stuff they did on Monday, and

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna get in some of the more of the

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Speaker 2: specifics because they're really fun. One of the most famous

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Speaker 2: actions was against the Catholic Church. Act UP was working

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Speaker 2: to distribute condoms and schools and the Church was trying

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Speaker 2: to stop them. And now you might be thinking, why

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Speaker 2: would the Catholic Church have anything to say about what

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Speaker 2: happens in public schools? And you would be right to

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Speaker 2: think that, because they shouldn't have any say in what

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Speaker 2: happens in public schools, right, No reason why they should keep.

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Speaker 3: All that shit on your in your own lane, yeah,

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Speaker 3: trying to get public funds for it.

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Speaker 2: Still, I did read this analysis that basically claims, and

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Speaker 2: I only found it in like one kind of anecdotal source,

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Speaker 2: that the Catholic Church in New York City had an

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Speaker 2: incredible amount of power before act UP and that act

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Speaker 2: Up in these actions and basically how the Catholic Church

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Speaker 2: behaved during AIDS crisis. And I'm going again, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to say the Catholic Church, not Catholics, but the Catholic

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Speaker 2: Church acted so badly that it has less political power

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Speaker 2: in New York than it used to is one thing

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Speaker 2: I read. But that was a very offhanded statement that

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Speaker 2: I read.

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Speaker 3: Why what did the Catholic Church ever do? Name?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one bad thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it came that the Pope kind of keeps uh

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Speaker 1: san slurs and yeah.

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Speaker 3: But that's because it's Pride month. He's trying to be

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Speaker 3: down with the lingo.

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Speaker 2: I just of all people to like forcibly out, that

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Speaker 2: would be the fun one.

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Speaker 3: He kind of wants to. Yeah, yeah, either forcibly outing him,

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Speaker 3: I think he wants to forcibly out others.

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Speaker 1: I just really appreciate the fact that he makes Biden

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Speaker 1: look young. There you go, look at the positive said

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Speaker 1: at least there's one person who's older than Biden.

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Speaker 2: However, better position on Palestine than Biden exactly.

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Speaker 3: Even even the Pope knows you shouldn't murder children.

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Speaker 1: So you're like if you're like, oh my god, Biden's

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Speaker 1: so old, and it's like, have you seen the Pope.

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Speaker 3: He's just out here slurring. He's so old. He just

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Speaker 3: simply cannot Yeah, he's slurring his words and then using slurs. Yeah, both,

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Speaker 3: that's a great combination.

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Speaker 2: And yet sorry, no, it's okay.

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Speaker 1: I can't stop bringing up the Pope in conversations with

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Speaker 1: people this week, because.

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Speaker 2: I find I find it so fascinating because he's like,

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Speaker 2: I know, and I'm like, and I I don't mind

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Speaker 2: that I've been called an abomination or whatever. But it's

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Speaker 2: also like kind of fun to have the Pope that

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Speaker 2: pisses off all of the new converts to Catholicism from

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Speaker 2: the right wing, because there's this whole like tradcast thing

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Speaker 2: where people are like Protestants who are like, oh, I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna be Catholic because it's somehow more right wing, and

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Speaker 2: then they join and they're like, what are all these

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Speaker 2: people of color doing here? Why is the mass? In Spanish,

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Speaker 2: You're like, do you know what the word Catholic means?

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Speaker 2: It means universal, which has some problems like colonization problems

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Speaker 2: behind the idea of believing that your faith is universal

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Speaker 2: and should applied to everyone. But it also isn't nationalist. Okay,

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Speaker 2: who would you rather get.

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Speaker 1: A drink with Joe Biden or the Pope?

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Speaker 4: It's the Pope. The Pope every time, every single time.

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Speaker 4: Who knows what he's gonna like, what's gonna come out

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Speaker 4: of his mouth? He's gonna have up so many people.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna have He's gonna come up with a slur

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Speaker 1: that none of us even heard of from the old times.

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Speaker 2: It's gonna be sur Is against me and that sounds fun.

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Speaker 2: So anyway, Act Up. A lot of the analysis around

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Speaker 2: act UP that I read has to do with like

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Speaker 2: people talking about the Catholics and the Jews and the

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Speaker 2: Protestants within act Up and how people would behave, you know,

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Speaker 2: in different situations. And so the Catholics and the Jews

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Speaker 2: were like, fuck, yeah, let's go after the Catholic Church,

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Speaker 2: and the Protestants were a little bit more like, oh,

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Speaker 2: we should be careful around that. People will accuse us

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Speaker 2: of being an anti Catholic organization, whereas like quite understandable,

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Speaker 2: and whereas all the Catholics are like, oh, we don't

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Speaker 2: care if we get accused of that, that's us who cares.

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Speaker 3: Well. The Catholics have a more I mean, there seems

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Speaker 3: to be more of a radical tradition. I mean, we

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Speaker 3: talked about Daniel bar again the last time I was

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Speaker 3: on oh yeah, one of the totes I was on

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Speaker 3: a couple times ago, and it was just like the

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Speaker 3: Catholic Church, Catholic workers are more of a like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: working class radical tradition. I mean, I'm not saying it

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Speaker 3: doesn't exist in the Protestant Church, but like it's not

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Speaker 3: a movement you can really point to.

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Speaker 2: Right and if so, it's like a whole nomination like

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Speaker 2: Quakers or something it exactly, rather than like mainline Protestantism

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Speaker 2: or whatever. So most of the people are like, no,

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Speaker 2: we're going to do this big die in at Saint

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Speaker 2: Patrick's Cathedral and so on December tenth, because that basically

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Speaker 2: the church is going around saying you can't distribute condoms

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Speaker 2: in schools, and you can't talk about safer sex, and

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Speaker 2: you can't encourage anyone to possibly have sex in any

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Speaker 2: way or whatever because we're the fucking Catholics. And so

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Speaker 2: December tenth, nineteen eighty nine, they plan this die in

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Speaker 2: and they're like compromise.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: People are like, oh, let's do something rowdy, and people

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Speaker 2: are like, no, it's not. So the compromise is going

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Speaker 2: to do this dye in where they're going to go

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Speaker 2: and then to not disturb everyone at prayer, but so

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Speaker 2: kind of mess things up. They're all going to fake dead,

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Speaker 2: act dead in the middle of it. You know, I

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Speaker 2: think it's two minutes after the opening line of the.

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Speaker 3: Service starts inside the service.

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Speaker 2: Inside the service, yes, while people are also outside protesting.

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Speaker 2: But when the time came, a couple individuals were like, now,

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Speaker 2: fuck this, We're fucking angry, and they were not polite.

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Speaker 2: Someone went up and took the Eucharus, took the you know,

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Speaker 2: the the little bit of bread the Catholic seat that

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Speaker 2: is literally Jesus' flesh, and they crumpled it up after

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Speaker 2: they spit it out, and like, you know, this is

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Speaker 2: a really big deal. And then someone started shouting, you're

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Speaker 2: killing us, you're killing us, because they were those policies

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Speaker 2: kill people. There's a body count attached to in the

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Speaker 2: middle of the AIDS crisis refusing to teach safe sex.

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Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, more than one hundred people were arrested

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Speaker 2: of this action, and at first everyone's upset, including with

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Speaker 2: an act up. A lot of people are like, oh no,

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Speaker 2: we were like, we really screwed it up. We were

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Speaker 2: you know, it made front page news all around the world.

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Speaker 2: Most people were mad, but it changed things and it

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Speaker 2: was actually one of the most successful actions they took.

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Speaker 2: And actually some of the people who were within act

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Speaker 2: Up who were mad, were like, yeah, I know, I

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Speaker 2: was wrong, Like it was actually really sweet.

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Speaker 3: Action turns out like a mass action inside of a

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Speaker 3: mass is incredible, a mass action mass a mass action. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: and taking the body of Christ and being like, oh,

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Speaker 3: this is stale, gross, you're killing us.

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Speaker 2: Another time, they stormed the CBS Evening News during the

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Speaker 2: start of the first Golf War, shouting AIDS is news,

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Speaker 2: fight aids not arabs.

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Speaker 3: Oooh love it speaking of intersectional Yeah.

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Speaker 2: When repeat villain of the show Rudy Giuliani came to

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Speaker 2: power in January nineteen ninety four in New York City,

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Speaker 2: his whole thing was he was the villain, like last

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Speaker 2: week or the week before when we talked about community gardens.

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Speaker 2: His whole thing is he wanted to cut public funding

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Speaker 2: and privatize the city. He wanted to cut fifteenthoud city jobs,

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Speaker 2: not cops, though cops, of course, we need all the

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Speaker 2: caps never get And so the Human Resources Administration took

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Speaker 2: a heavy cut, and the Department of Aid Services was

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Speaker 2: under that. The Department of Aid Services had started in

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Speaker 2: nineteen eighty five, seven hundred and forty people work there,

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Speaker 2: providing case workers for sixteen thousand AID patients. In the city,

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Speaker 2: Giuliani was considering cutting it entirely. Act UP, fuck that plan.

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Speaker 1: It is up.

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Speaker 2: One thousand people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. They hung

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Speaker 2: a thirty foot banner on City Hall that renamed it

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Speaker 2: the AIDS Hall of Shame. Protesters blocked the Mayor's office.

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Speaker 2: Protesters blocked the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Battery Tunnel,

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Speaker 2: and the Midtown Tunnel. Nice and they they half won.

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Speaker 2: They stopped the AIDS agency from being cut entirely. It

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Speaker 2: was still cut by three point one million dollars in

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Speaker 2: the city, started offering fewer services, but considering they were

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Speaker 2: going to lose.

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Speaker 3: It all completely lose that is wild. Yeah, when you

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Speaker 3: still don't have it under control.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, it's still this like and you are like

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Speaker 2: the center of this crisis is New York City, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely.

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Speaker 2: Act UP also built community health clinics and buddy programs.

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Speaker 2: They formed buyers clubs for necessary drugs, including some that

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Speaker 2: were smuggled into the country or produced illegally, so you

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Speaker 2: have like whole underground labs producing AIDS drugs. Nice. And

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Speaker 2: these clubs also would help people trade with one another.

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Speaker 2: And when I I'm doing a little bit of conflation

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Speaker 2: of the aid's movement. More broadly, with act UP, It's

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Speaker 2: one of the things about it being an all volunteer

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Speaker 2: organization is that a lot of things be like, oh

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Speaker 2: act UP did this, and then someone be like, oh,

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Speaker 2: it was actually this other group, and then later someone's like,

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Speaker 2: well that group was part of act up, and then

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Speaker 2: other people argue about it. So I'm a little bit

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Speaker 2: blurry with some of this around.

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Speaker 3: You know, let me get the street. So act up

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Speaker 3: is not necessarily like again like a top down organization

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Speaker 3: with staff, right, is it more of it's decentralized, so

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Speaker 3: anyone can like be part of act up or do

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Speaker 3: you an act UP action if you're in San Francisco

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Speaker 3: or Philly or New York? Or is it kind of that,

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Speaker 3: Like I know it's not occupy that's quite decentralized, but

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Speaker 3: that same vibe.

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Speaker 2: It's closer to that there is. Like I do know

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Speaker 2: that act Up at its peak, Act Up New York

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Speaker 2: had a million dollar budget that it was working with,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of that came from like merchandise sale, right,

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Speaker 2: mm hm. But I also know it's all volunteer, and

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Speaker 2: so I'm I'm actually I'm a little bit uncertain about

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Speaker 2: whether it was totally the UH franchise activism like food

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Speaker 2: and nott bombs or occupy where anyone who agrees to

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Speaker 2: the following can be this totally. I know that all

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Speaker 2: the act Up groups were coordinating and that they were

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Speaker 2: all autonomous, so I don't think that you had to

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Speaker 2: get like permission, but I think you did. It was

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Speaker 2: like part of something where act Up groups in one

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Speaker 2: city would call on act Up groups in other cities

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Speaker 2: and they would coordinate things together. They would plan these

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Speaker 2: like huge actions, well five thousand people, but a direct action,

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Speaker 2: you know, in different cities. By coordinating together. Volunteer medical

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Speaker 2: workers were risking their licenses by administering drugs intravenously and

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Speaker 2: patients like when it wasn't yet approved and things like that,

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Speaker 2: all because government action was too slow and it wasn't

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Speaker 2: centering the needs of patients. Act Up Philly took over

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Speaker 2: an aid's hospice that had lost its funding. Act Up

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Speaker 2: Boston squatted places for people to live, so a ton

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Speaker 2: of people were losing their jobs because they're sick and

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Speaker 2: then are suddenly homeless, right right. They fought the I

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Speaker 2: in s the precursor to ice over, the banning of

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Speaker 2: immigrants with AIDS. They more or less developed modern safer

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Speaker 2: sex education.

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Speaker 3: That's fucking wild, right, Like two things that we take

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Speaker 3: for granted now that the you know, everyone, no matter

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Speaker 3: what political stripe, takes for granted. Of course, yes, they're

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Speaker 3: trying to like roll back right, the right is trying

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Speaker 3: to roll back sexed and whatnot. But like the idea

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Speaker 3: of like safer sex, of like learning how to use

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Speaker 3: a condom, distributing condoms like to most degrees, that's like

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Speaker 3: a settled issue. And the fact that we have like

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Speaker 3: gay rights activists and AIDS activists to think for that

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Speaker 3: is just incredible.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Like I took so much of this for granted.

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Speaker 2: I grew up, you know, in the nineties as this

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Speaker 2: was happening, right, But I was, like I was a kid,

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Speaker 2: you know, I mean I was a teenager, and so

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Speaker 2: like I got sex education in school, and like, you know,

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Speaker 2: and I don't you know, I couldn't tell you exactly

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Speaker 2: where the line is of like how much they influenced

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Speaker 2: my sex education in like you know, the mid nineties

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Speaker 2: or whatever.

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Speaker 3: But we also missed the like disease free fucking situation

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Speaker 3: that was happening in like the early seventies. So you know,

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Speaker 3: you take some, you lose some.

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Speaker 1: Oh.

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Speaker 2: I grew up like basically being like if I have sex,

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Speaker 2: I will die because I grew up like at the

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Speaker 2: peak of the AIDS crisis, and so it's like everyone

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Speaker 2: sex dies. That's what I learned. And and it wasn't

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Speaker 2: even people like I mean, you have to do a

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Speaker 2: little bit of scaring people, right, yes, yes, but you

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Speaker 2: know you can certainly take it too far.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, some of the nuns were like perfect.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly totally. Sometimes act up participants when they would

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Speaker 2: go to an action, they would bring or be given

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Speaker 2: a photo and a name of someone who had died

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Speaker 2: of AIDS to keep in their pocket during the action.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: And if they were arrested, you would give the dead

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Speaker 2: person's name instead of your own. Wow.

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Speaker 3: That's just fucking deep.

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Speaker 2: So beautiful, I know it. It's like there's nothing like

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Speaker 2: remembering that what you're doing is like weighty and matters

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Speaker 2: like that. You know, they weren't always of one mind,

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Speaker 2: like AIDS activism in general. A lot of AIDS activists

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Speaker 2: fought against government regulation and red tape. That's like what

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Speaker 2: we hear the most about, right, but there was actually

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Speaker 2: a bunch who were also fighting for regulations, specifically of

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Speaker 2: all the alternative treatment, because anytime the medical establishment fails,

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Speaker 2: grifters come in and sell snake oil, right, And so

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Speaker 2: there's people who are absolutely there just to make money

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Speaker 2: off the dying and desperate.

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Speaker 3: That's what I've remecked in.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly, shit your pants, And I don't think

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Speaker 2: in one week we can give every part of act

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Speaker 2: UP it's due, but I want to focus on some

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Speaker 2: of the individual groups now within it. One of the

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Speaker 2: most influential affinity groups with an ACT UP was called

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Speaker 2: Grand Fury, which is an art collective made up of

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Speaker 2: eleven people. They took their name. I think this is

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Speaker 2: one of those things where if of a certain age,

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Speaker 2: you just know where their name came from, and I don't,

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Speaker 2: so I had to look it up. There's a car

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Speaker 2: called a Plymouth grand Fury and it was the model

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Speaker 2: car that NYPD drove, and they were like, we're just

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Speaker 2: going to take that name. Fuck it. They also took

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Speaker 2: it because grand Fury sounds like grand Fury and it

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Speaker 2: sounds like I'm very angry, and they liked it.

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Speaker 3: That's great.

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Speaker 2: They wound up becoming one of the most influential art

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Speaker 2: collectives in history. They came from graphic design and advertising

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Speaker 2: as much as anything else, but they were directly inspired

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Speaker 2: by and consider themselves in lineage of the Situationists of

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Speaker 2: France and the Gorilla Girls in the US. And maybe

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Speaker 2: one of them still works in advertising and designed the

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Speaker 2: ad you're about to hear, but probably not. But here

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Speaker 2: you go. So grand Fury in the beginning, so you know,

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Speaker 2: we have questions about structure, and I absolutely did too.

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Speaker 2: Grand Fury started off as like because I would read

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Speaker 2: some articles and be like six people, eleven people, ten people,

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Speaker 2: like all of these different numbers were being thrown out

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Speaker 2: and finally like their actual their own stuff is like

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Speaker 2: eleven people. And they were like, it started off as

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Speaker 2: whoever shows up to the meeting. It was kind of

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Speaker 2: like a working group meeting. Basically, it's like who wants

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Speaker 2: to go to like the propaganda meeting. You know. Then

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Speaker 2: they became a fixed collective by the end of nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty nine, they were like, Okay, we are now a

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Speaker 2: specific art collective. We have a specific name. We are

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Speaker 2: doing this thing. It is this these eleven people. Half

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Speaker 2: of them had or would lose their partners to AIDS

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Speaker 2: like had already or would. Their most iconic piece of

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Speaker 2: art is the Silence equals Death poster. This is the

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Speaker 2: black poster with a pink triangle and the word silence

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Speaker 2: equals death. Yes, every piece of art they did they

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Speaker 2: put directly into the public domain for anyone to use.

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Speaker 2: And they were intersectional as fuck. A lot of what

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Speaker 2: I know about the intersectionality of act UP comes through

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Speaker 2: their work. I'm sure there's other things written about it.

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Speaker 2: They made posters pointing out that prisoners with AIDS suffer

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Speaker 2: the worst of all that It's like the life expectancy

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Speaker 2: of a prisoner with the AIGE is half of that

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Speaker 2: of someone outside of prison.

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Speaker 3: I cannot imagine that suffering.

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Speaker 2: I know. I know. They fought the myth that women

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Speaker 2: don't get HIV. Okay, my favorite posters is just like

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Speaker 2: this photo of a big erect cock with the words

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Speaker 2: sexism rears its unprotected head and men use condoms or

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Speaker 2: beat it. This is a slogan they used all the time,

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Speaker 2: and then AIDS kills women at the bottom. Another slogan

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Speaker 2: they used a lot was women don't get AIDS. They

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Speaker 2: just die from it. Ooh, and they took out a

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Speaker 2: full page ad in the New York Times for that one.

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Speaker 3: Fuck that's get them, get them. I mean, I just

402
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Speaker 3: think that it's wild, like the idea that you'd like advocating,

403
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Speaker 3: and again we just said that they you know, there

404
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Speaker 3: are a lot of the origins of safe sex practices

405
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Speaker 3: can be traced here, but like, it is still wild

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Speaker 3: to me that, like, you know, at any point in history,

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Speaker 3: using a condom would be considered radical, right, or considered

408
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Speaker 3: you know, like subversive. Yeah, and this is a movement obviously,

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Speaker 3: they're like literally taking care of one another. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I think that's so, I mean, and that I think

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Speaker 3: speaks to its success because oftentimes there are movements where

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Speaker 3: you're not directly involved. It doesn't involve you know, you

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00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 3: or your livelihood necessarily, and it can be harder, can

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Speaker 3: feel more nebulous. You don't have the name of someone

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Speaker 3: in your pocket and you're not fighting for your own

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Speaker 3: survival and to keep yourself safe. So I love that

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Speaker 3: about yeah, this movement.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Now there's so many things that we yet we

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Speaker 2: take for granted, but it's like people fought and died

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Speaker 2: over condoms. You know, right, like and it's like the weekend,

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Speaker 2: like we well, we no longer take it for granted

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Speaker 2: because everyone has to work like eight jobs. But you know,

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Speaker 2: there was a period in America where because a lot

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Speaker 2: of people got to take uh yeah, a lot of

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Speaker 2: people got to take the weekend for granted. So another

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Speaker 2: thing that they brought a lot of attention to the

427
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Speaker 2: media at the time would talk about the innocent victims

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Speaker 2: of AIDS to differentiate them from the gay man and

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Speaker 2: the drunk the junkies. Right, if you got it from

430
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 2: blood transfusions and heterosexual sex, you were an innocent victim

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Speaker 2: of AIDS. So Grand Fury and the rest of the

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Speaker 2: movement would use the slogan all people with AIDS are

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Speaker 2: innocent and do like huge put the slogan everywhere they could.

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Speaker 2: There was one shirt that they made that was ubiquitous

435
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 2: among people in the movement and their supporters, which said

436
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:23,879
Speaker 2: read my lips and it was a photo of two

437
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Speaker 2: sailor men kissing. They also really personified the act Up

438
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 2: method of working both inside the system and against the system,

439
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 2: because yeah, they took out full page ads and they

440
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 2: also paid for some billboards. One billboard, but they also

441
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,360
Speaker 2: did a bunch of crime. That's what I'm talking about.

442
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 2: In the second one billboard, they did read welcome to America,

443
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 2: the only industrialized country besides South Africa without national health care.

444
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 3: Still true, although maybe in South Africa there's national healthcare.

445
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 2: Well, they put the same billboard back up in twenty

446
00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 2: eighteen and they just modified it to remove beside South

447
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,680
Speaker 2: Africa because South Africa and now the nationalized hellsware.

448
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 3: Ah. I knew it.

449
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,560
Speaker 2: I used to all the time, like just basically threatened

450
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,240
Speaker 2: to my health insurance plan for a very long time

451
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:13,120
Speaker 2: was to move to a developed nation.

452
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know that's going to be mine very soon.

453
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 2: They also weep pasted and did other crimes. They did

454
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,679
Speaker 2: a New York Times wrap around, which is where you

455
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,880
Speaker 2: print it. It's funny. It's the style of protests that's

456
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 2: going to be mostly gone soon, which is fine. Things change.

457
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,639
Speaker 2: You print a fake front page for a newspaper and

458
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 2: then go through the city and replace all the newspapers

459
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 2: in the newspaper bins and shit and theirs was really

460
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 2: fucking well done. This was just a front page done

461
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 2: super professionally that actually showed what the news should be.

462
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 2: And they called it the New York Crimes, and the

463
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,600
Speaker 2: subtitle was not to be confused with The New York Times.

464
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 2: The headlines read things like, thousands of New Yorkers may

465
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,479
Speaker 2: be dying in the streets because they're going to pay

466
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 2: attention to the homeless issue. Women and AIDS are government's

467
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 2: wilful neglect. Inmates with AIDS inadvertent political prisoners. What about

468
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 2: people of color, race effects survival?

469
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:10,120
Speaker 1: Hmm.

470
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 2: But they did an awful lot more than just art.

471
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 2: They believed in art for the sake of action. There

472
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 2: was this drug. It was the first drug, the first

473
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,399
Speaker 2: approved drug for AIDS was called azt and had terrible

474
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 2: side effects and it didn't work long term. When it

475
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,719
Speaker 2: was brought to the market, it was the most expensive

476
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 2: pharmaceutical ever brought to.

477
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 3: Market Jesus fucking Christ.

478
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 2: Which is funny because now it's like not that expensive

479
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 2: by like it costs ten thousand dollars a year for patients,

480
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,320
Speaker 2: which is about twenty five thousand dollars in today's money.

481
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 2: And so this is like the first company that did

482
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 2: the like, what if we fleece the shit out of

483
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:49,160
Speaker 2: people who are fucking.

484
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 3: Sick or in Diana, that's so cruel yeah.

485
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 2: The company that owned AZT Burrow Welcome. It was one

486
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 2: of their biggest money makers, so they could profit off

487
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 2: of the dying and marginalized. So on September fourteenth, nineteen

488
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:10,439
Speaker 2: eighty nine, seven members of Grand Fury snuck into the

489
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 2: New York Stock Exchange using falsified badges because they're fucking

490
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 2: professional artists and printmakers. Two of them pulled out cameras.

491
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 2: The other five climbed up to a balcony then handcuffed

492
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,359
Speaker 2: themselves to I couldn't figure out exactly, but I'm guessing

493
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 2: the railing. They dropped a banner that read cell Welcome

494
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,399
Speaker 2: after Burrows Welcome. Then they blew air horns over the

495
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 2: sound of the opening bell and dropped fake money onto

496
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 2: the stock trade floor, which their money read shit like

497
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,600
Speaker 2: fuck your profiteering. People are dying while you play business nice.

498
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 2: And then they put Grand Fury as the signature. They're like,

499
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 2: slogan was like a cursive thing. I think it was

500
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 2: just that literally the logo of the car, but I'm

501
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,040
Speaker 2: not sure. Grand Fury and cursive in place of the

502
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 2: treasury signature. Within days, the price of AZT fell down

503
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 2: to less than seven thousand dollars year. WHOA, so that's

504
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 2: still way too high. But you're talking like thirty percent drop.

505
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,200
Speaker 2: I've read one place that was twenty percent drop, and

506
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 2: then I read another place at a very specific number

507
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 2: that was way more than that. And I don't know

508
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,800
Speaker 2: the actual number. But I like grand Fury. Now I'm

509
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 2: going to talk about the least splashy group related to

510
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:21,640
Speaker 2: act UP that I like.

511
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 3: Grand Fury too very much. A contender for dopest group thus.

512
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,920
Speaker 2: Far, I know, but hear me out as next group.

513
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,720
Speaker 2: It's not a competition, but it's kind of a competition.

514
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 2: Not nearly so splashy. But one of the groups I

515
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 2: think we could learn the most from. Chicago. Act UP

516
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 2: formed the Committee for Sustainable Activity and Care or SEASACK,

517
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,560
Speaker 2: which was one of the first hay activism burns people

518
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,159
Speaker 2: out groups I've ever heard of. I'm going to quote

519
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 2: about them from one of their spiritual successors, which is

520
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 2: called the Jane Adams Collective, to a group that currently

521
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,679
Speaker 2: does work in New York City. Seasack realized that the

522
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 2: continue theyknewed stress of activism, along the trauma of the

523
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 2: AIDS epidemic and the violence of the police, was taking

524
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 2: a toll on the organization. They noticed not only a

525
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 2: greater degree of burnout from core organizers, but also greater

526
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 2: inter group conflict. Despite numerous successes, Seesack was made up

527
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 2: of mental health workers and lay people and it was

528
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 2: charged with ways of reducing stress and post traumatic dysfunction

529
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 2: within act of Chicago. They only existed for a short period,

530
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 2: less than a year, but they helped usher in some

531
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 2: innoative techniques to reduce the negative effects of trauma that

532
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 2: were used by ACTUP chapters not only in Chicago but

533
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 2: other cities. So basically, they got together a bunch of

534
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 2: mental health professionals and shit and were like, how do

535
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 2: we stop the traumatic trauma of this activism? And so

536
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 2: they came up with a bunch of ways to do it.

537
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 2: They hosted monthly, a monthly free talk series where you

538
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,040
Speaker 2: could show up and talk about what's stressing you and

539
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,159
Speaker 2: I don't think it had to be like activism related.

540
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 2: And this was extra good for the people care taking

541
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,920
Speaker 2: people dying of AIDS, right, because there's this whole thing

542
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:04,159
Speaker 2: that Yeah, I.

543
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,919
Speaker 3: Mean, were there support groups? I can only imagine there

544
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,640
Speaker 3: were there. There are like support groups for people dying

545
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 3: of AIDS. Yeah, I know, there's support groups for people

546
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 3: who are caring for those who were terminally ill. But

547
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 3: it's just like that, Yeah, that was that's so much

548
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 3: plus repression from the cops, plus New York City in general.

549
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,920
Speaker 3: Let's be real, like I've organized there. It sucks. It's

550
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 3: just kind of like it's fun, but it's also sort

551
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: of real. It's just draining.

552
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, well this started in Chicago, but it did go

553
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 2: to New York. But yeah, no, like realizing and learning

554
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 2: and thinking about what to do about the fact that

555
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 2: the people care taking the people also need care to

556
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 2: be cared for you. They brought in veterans from other

557
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 2: movements to talk frankly about the trauma they'd face through repression,

558
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 2: which also of course ties you into the lineage of

559
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 2: all these different protest movements, right, so that people didn't

560
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 2: feel so alone, you know, you get to talk to

561
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 2: some like former Black Panther about how horrible and traumatic

562
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: what they experienced. Was maybe you feel better about the

563
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 2: trauma you're experiencing. They had after every big action, within

564
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 2: a couple of days, they had what were called affirmation parties.

565
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 2: All the participants of the action would show up and

566
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 2: to quote Jane Adams collective again quote. No matter the

567
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 2: success of the action, individuals would get up and say

568
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 2: what it meant to them to be part of it,

569
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 2: thus reconnecting to the solidarity on the street with After

570
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 2: the action, in a social setting, there's drinks and music

571
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 2: and dance. Often tokens, flowers, coins like an AA, et

572
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 2: cetera of thanks would be given to the participants of

573
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 2: the protests.

574
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 3: Oh that's so sweet. I love as eye. Why didn't

575
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 3: I have that one?

576
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: Right?

577
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 2: This is this is kind of what I was saying about.

578
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 2: How like I think that there's like some stuff that

579
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 2: we need to reconnect with from this era.

580
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, because also the other thing people do is after

581
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 3: an action, there's always or anything, really I mean literally

582
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 3: anything a show, uh, you know, an event, fundraiser, whatever

583
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 3: it is. You always have this like, okay, let's do

584
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 3: like a debrief for whatever it is, or a post mortem.

585
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 3: And you're like, I don't like post Like this feels

586
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 3: like more work. Why does this? Why do we have

587
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 3: to do more work? Why don't we just be positive

588
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 3: about what we just did a party exactly and throw

589
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 3: a party and reconnect, especially if you were out on

590
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 3: the streets you might have gotten arrested, you might have

591
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 3: got brutalized, like shit might have been scary, you know,

592
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 3: And so having reconnecting with the community and also being like, hey,

593
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 3: there's good stuff here. It's not just us getting like

594
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 3: roughed up in the streets is so important, and the.

595
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 2: Like tokens of appreciation, Like I feel like this is

596
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 2: you were talking earlier about how movements need to be sticky,

597
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 2: and I know that that was like a little bit

598
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,280
Speaker 2: like externally focused, but I think internally matters too. Someone

599
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 2: comes to their first action and someone is like, thank

600
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 2: you for being at that action, like here's a flower,

601
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 2: or here's a coin that you only get for having

602
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 2: been at that action or whatever. Like. Also, organizers would

603
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,959
Speaker 2: reach out to the action participants, either in person or

604
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 2: in phone, to check up on them a couple days after.

605
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 3: Hey, that's a lot of work. That's like a million

606
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 3: dollar budget, that's nothing. These all volunteers. I mean, that's

607
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 3: also saying like, look, we don't see you just as

608
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 3: like bodies, you know, we don't see you just as

609
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 3: like people who can get arrested. We want you in

610
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 3: this for the long haul. We want you to know

611
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 3: you're valued. Right, which is God, that's so much work,

612
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 3: I know, but it also probably like kind of feels

613
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 3: good when you're like, first, we're building this thing.

614
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 2: Right Before the party would start, they would start by

615
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 2: reading the names of those in the community who had

616
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 2: dietabates and one more quote from Jane Adams the Jane

617
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 2: Adams Collective, which is named after a person named Jane Adams.

618
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:54,239
Speaker 2: So I don't know as much about as I want to,

619
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 2: but Jane Adams Collective said quote. Finally, participants that face

620
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 2: traumatic situations, police abuse, arrest, or a recent death of

621
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 2: a friend from AIDS would be invited to speak as

622
00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,840
Speaker 2: a veteran at the next organizing meeting. This changed their

623
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 2: status from isolated victim to appreciated and connected veteran with

624
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 2: experiences to share with the group. It allowed the individual

625
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 2: to organize their feelings and find value and lessons for

626
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 2: them to share. This reduces the effects of learned helplessness

627
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 2: while creating context for their experience. Which all of these

628
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 2: quotes are not from a like here's about act up.

629
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 2: It's from a manual about movement mental health. That's why

630
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 2: it is written. It's like written by mental health professionals.

631
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 3: There was something you said earlier about like the cop

632
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 3: part or like not policing people that I think is

633
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 3: really interesting because I think that's another sort of thing

634
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 3: that a lot of movements can fall into today. And

635
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 3: my line on it is like, you know, there's everyone

636
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 3: wants to defund the police except for the police, the

637
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 3: cop in their.

638
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 2: Head, you know, like yeah, totally.

639
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 3: We kind of we're shitty to each other and we

640
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 3: are perfectionists with one another. We definitely try to like

641
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 3: cancel each other for this that you know, transgression rather

642
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 3: than kind of like making it broader, checking in being

643
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 3: like understanding and like so much of toxic I think

644
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 3: movement culture comes from like undiagnosed and untreated like mental

645
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 3: illness or distress, you know, or trauma of the work itself.

646
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 3: So they knew it. They were like, we need we

647
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 3: have to actually be well, Like if we're alive, we

648
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 3: fucking better live good. Yeah, because so many people are dead.

649
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 3: So it's like that's kind of the other thing. It's

650
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 3: like not to be too much like this is COVID,

651
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 3: but COVID absolutely, you know, drove home, Like what is

652
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 3: the value of like living? Like what do we do?

653
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,040
Speaker 3: Like where do I want to be if the shit

654
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 3: is ending or if you know, what do I want

655
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 3: to do with my time? And I think if you

656
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 3: see people dying all around you, you live so differently.

657
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,959
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. I like, I think that's such a good

658
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,319
Speaker 2: point that the stuff comes from people who are very

659
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 2: smart and very good at organizing, whose backs are against

660
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,319
Speaker 2: the fucking wall, right, And I yeah, I think that

661
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 2: this idea of like I talk about it sometimes with friends,

662
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,400
Speaker 2: is like like mental health first aid. You know, like

663
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 2: I grew up learning how to put a band aid

664
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 2: on a wound or even you know, I grew up

665
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,879
Speaker 2: learning how to treat punctual wounds and reasonably serious injuries, right,

666
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 2: But no one told me after you experience a traumatic event,

667
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 2: here are some basic steps you can take to keep

668
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 2: the wound from infecting. You know, I know how to

669
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,319
Speaker 2: wash out a physical wound, but I didn't know how

670
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 2: to wash out a mental wound. And one of the

671
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,720
Speaker 2: main answers is always comes down to things that encourage

672
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 2: people to have agency. So if like you're in a crisis,

673
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 2: when you act with a agency, it causes less of

674
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 2: a lasting traumatic effect on you, which isn't to say

675
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 2: the trauma isn't real and the trauma doesn't happen. You know.

676
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,160
Speaker 2: It's like if someone slashes you in the arm. You're

677
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 2: not going to be like, ah, I'm going to just

678
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,200
Speaker 2: not have been slashed, But you have to deal with

679
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 2: the slash and how you do that changes how it

680
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 2: impacts you going forward. You know. Yeah, I really like

681
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:25,840
Speaker 2: I learned actually almost all of that from some of

682
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 2: the people involved in a Jane Adams collective, and I

683
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 2: just want to like shout them out. They're a collective

684
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 2: of anarchist mental health workers, both social workers and psychologists

685
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 2: who focus on mental health care for people in social movements,

686
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 2: and they've written a bunch about it, and I think

687
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 2: they're cool, so you should check their books out.

688
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:41,439
Speaker 3: All right.

689
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 2: The next group that I'm going to have compete for

690
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 2: coolest would be the group that is most angry. That

691
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 2: before I talk about them, I'm going to talk about

692
00:35:51,320 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 2: a word from our sponsors, and we're back, because now

693
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about some of the spiciest of

694
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 2: the people. This group is called Queer Nation. Its founders

695
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 2: come from act Up in New York and they got

696
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,400
Speaker 2: their start at the same LGBT Services Center, the center,

697
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,439
Speaker 2: but they are more militant, and a lot of people

698
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 2: from act UP don't like them, and they like are

699
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,160
Speaker 2: an aren't part of act Up in kind of an

700
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 2: interesting way. They were formed on March twentieth, nineteen ninety.

701
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 2: They are not AIDS focused. They are queer rights focused

702
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:36,359
Speaker 2: in the middle of the AIDS crisis. As far as

703
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 2: I can tell, you know, I've already basically said ACTUP

704
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 2: invented everything. I'm going to add to that list. I'm

705
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:44,839
Speaker 2: going to add two things to that list. I'm going

706
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:51,799
Speaker 2: to add the reclamation of the word queer and I'm

707
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 2: going to add queer theory. So this group, more than

708
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 2: anyone else that I've been able to find, is responsible

709
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,439
Speaker 2: for the popularization of the reclamation of the word queer.

710
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 2: They're not the first people who are like, oh, this

711
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,240
Speaker 2: insult I'm called I'm gonna go buy it on purpose,

712
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 2: like people have been doing that forever, you know.

713
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I like it's actually a dope word because

714
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 3: it's got the cue, you know, it's it's just a

715
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,240
Speaker 3: kind of a good word.

716
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,840
Speaker 2: I know, it rules. It's my favorite word for my

717
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 2: sexuality for two reasons. First, it doesn't answer any specifics

718
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 2: like I could be like, yeah, I'm a pan romantic,

719
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 2: somewhat saffic, trans, feminine, lesbian or something right, all these

720
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 2: like specifics. Yeah, and I get why that's useful for

721
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 2: some people or not sexy. Yeah, I just tell you

722
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 2: I'm queer, which says who I'm attracted to is between

723
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 2: me and the people with whom I have mutual attraction,

724
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:49,759
Speaker 2: which is sexy as hell. I agree, And I am

725
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 2: totally fine with being like my sexualities. I'm a queer

726
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,439
Speaker 2: trans woman. It's fucking fine. I also like queer because

727
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 2: as a history of militancy, it comes out of reclamation.

728
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 2: Like a lot of my friends identify as faggots, queer

729
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 2: used to have a not dissimilar connotation as something sketchy

730
00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,160
Speaker 2: and edgy to say or identify with. And I like

731
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:12,839
Speaker 2: that about it. And I owe that word and its

732
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 2: reclamations to some really angry queers who started doing that

733
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:20,840
Speaker 2: shit in nineteen ninety. Queer Nation set out to basically

734
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,919
Speaker 2: force people to come to terms with homosexuality, but put

735
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 2: it in people's faces, all the stuff that the right

736
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 2: wings like. People are like, well, I don't mind what

737
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,320
Speaker 2: people do behind closed doors, but why do they have

738
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 2: to be so in your face about it, and almost

739
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:33,719
Speaker 2: everyone is like, we're not in your face about it.

740
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:35,919
Speaker 2: I just want to hold hands with my fucking girlfriend, right.

741
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,480
Speaker 2: Queer Nation was like, yeah, we're gonna be in your

742
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:39,239
Speaker 2: fucking face about it.

743
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, you should see it. Yeah.

744
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,360
Speaker 2: The first action that they took was they went to

745
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 2: a heterosexual bar, Flutie's Bar on April thirteenth, nineteen ninety

746
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:51,839
Speaker 2: and uh showed up and played Spin the Bottle at

747
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:52,359
Speaker 2: a straight bar.

748
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 3: That's great. Yeah, I mean that's basically like I mean,

749
00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,360
Speaker 3: I don't mean that like equate it, but that's like

750
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 3: kind of and you know, that's an action of integration, right,

751
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,759
Speaker 3: that's like we deserve to be here, we deserve to

752
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,400
Speaker 3: be on all spaces, like deal with it.

753
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And it's it's wild to think about how

754
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 2: for so many people of so many different marginalizations, just

755
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 2: existing in public is confrontational and edgy. Right, Like if

756
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 2: I wear a dress to the store, depending on where

757
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 2: I am, I'm like doing a political action, not because

758
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,839
Speaker 2: I want to be, but because it's like dangerous for

759
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:28,919
Speaker 2: me to do. Right.

760
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: Oh.

761
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 2: Another thing that Queer Nation invented or developed the chant

762
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 2: we're here, we're queer, get used to it.

763
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,320
Speaker 3: Great chance. I know, I can't say we're here without

764
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:42,640
Speaker 3: wanting to say we're queer. Get used to it. And

765
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 3: I'm not queer, and I don't think I should be

766
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 3: saying it that much, but it's my favorite chant.

767
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 2: It's still a good chance. Unfortunately, I'm so grow up

768
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 2: the Simpsons that I think we're here, we're here, we're queer,

769
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 2: and we don't want any more bears.

770
00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 3: I don't remember that episode.

771
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like all I remember about the episode. It's

772
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 2: not about bears. Is in like a large, hairy homosexual

773
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 2: needs to be clear, it's it's it was like an

774
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,880
Speaker 2: episode of The Simpsons where like bears are attacking the

775
00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:16,320
Speaker 2: town or something I don't remember, and so people protest

776
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:19,680
Speaker 2: against it and someone chants that, and it's in my head.

777
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 2: It's probably the first time I heard that chant. One

778
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 2: of the ideological successors of queer Nation is the modern

779
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 2: group Bashback, and I remember the first time I was

780
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 2: out as queer was at a Bashback convention in Chicago.

781
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 2: I was there with my boyfriend. I wasn't out as tranced,

782
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 2: even to myself at the time. I was just a

783
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 2: boy named Margaret and I held his hand as we

784
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 2: took to the streets in all black and pink, chanting

785
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,880
Speaker 2: one in ten is not enough. Recruit, recruit, which is

786
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,919
Speaker 2: I think the modern version of we're here where queer

787
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 2: get used to it, which is the like, We're going

788
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 2: to take these things you say about us and like

789
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,800
Speaker 2: throw them at you, be like, yeah, we are at recruiting,

790
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 2: what do you want? And I really liked it because

791
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:01,919
Speaker 2: I had just and recruited. I met a really cute boy.

792
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 2: I thought I was straight, So anyway, Queer Nation. They

793
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 2: also almost certainly where Bashback has its name. Queer Nation

794
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,400
Speaker 2: went to protest with banners that read things like dikes

795
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:18,600
Speaker 2: and fags bashback, I.

796
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 3: Fucking love that, Like that's so great.

797
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. They're also pointed to regularly as one of the

798
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,720
Speaker 2: founders of queer theory. They showed up at the nineteen

799
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,759
Speaker 2: ninety Pride Parade in New York City, where the Manifesto

800
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 2: printed a long, double sided sheet I think called queers

801
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,640
Speaker 2: read this, or read some of it? It opens. How

802
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:42,440
Speaker 2: can I tell you? How can I convince you, brother sister,

803
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 2: that your life is in danger, that every day you

804
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 2: wake up alive, relatively happy and a functioning human being.

805
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 2: You are committing a rebellious act. You, as an alive

806
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:56,040
Speaker 2: and functioning queer, are a revolutionary There is nothing on

807
00:41:56,080 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 2: this planet that validates, protects, or encourages your existence. It

808
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,400
Speaker 2: is a miracle that you are standing here reading these words.

809
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,240
Speaker 2: You should, by all rights, be dead. Don't be fooled.

810
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,200
Speaker 2: Straight people own the world, and the only reason you

811
00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 2: have been spared is that you're smart, lucky, or a fighter.

812
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,799
Speaker 2: It also said queer can be a rough word, but

813
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:20,960
Speaker 2: it is also a sly and ironic weapon we can

814
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,640
Speaker 2: steal from the homophob's hands and use against him.

815
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:25,800
Speaker 3: Ooh, that's so brilliant.

816
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:30,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, a sly and what is it? Ironic weapon we

817
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 2: can steal from the homophob's hands. Yeah. And then the

818
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,759
Speaker 2: last piece in it is the reason it was controversial

819
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,600
Speaker 2: even among act up. The last piece on it was

820
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 2: called I hate straits, and it includes the line I

821
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,440
Speaker 2: hate having to convince straight people that lesbians and gays

822
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:51,640
Speaker 2: live in a war zone, that we're surrounded by bomb blasts.

823
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 2: Only we seem to hear that our bodies and souls

824
00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 2: are heaped high, dead from fright, or bashed or raped,

825
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,959
Speaker 2: dying of grief or disease of our personhood. I hate

826
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,600
Speaker 2: straight people who can't listen to Queer Anger without saying, hey,

827
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,360
Speaker 2: all straight people aren't like that. I'm straight to, you know,

828
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 2: And it ends with go tell them until they have

829
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 2: spent a month walking hand in hand in public with

830
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,200
Speaker 2: someone of the same sex. After they survive that, then

831
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:21,440
Speaker 2: you'll hear what they have to say about queer Anger. Otherwise,

832
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,800
Speaker 2: tell them to shut up and listen. It's really interesting

833
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:26,879
Speaker 2: because this piece, it starts off like I hate straits, right,

834
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 2: it actually does a fairly good job of saying, like, no,

835
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 2: I hate straight people who don't let me be angry

836
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:37,040
Speaker 2: about heterosexuality compulsively running the world right, Like it even

837
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:41,239
Speaker 2: includes it's like I hate everyone who says hashtag not

838
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 2: all straits, you know, basically like it uses that same

839
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,319
Speaker 2: terminology that I think people like later developed when they

840
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:50,120
Speaker 2: were like complaining about not all men or whatever.

841
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,600
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, not all men. All lives matter. It's just

842
00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:57,400
Speaker 3: like the fragility of the powerful is just you know,

843
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:01,080
Speaker 3: so it permeates every single movement. And also to see that,

844
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 3: you know, it sounds like some allies even are like well,

845
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 3: just so you know, like I'm I'm cool, and it's like,

846
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,240
Speaker 3: this is not about you and your feelings, right, And

847
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:13,719
Speaker 3: it kind of like abdicates responsibility when you just want to, like,

848
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,720
Speaker 3: you know, save your own ass and make sure everyone

849
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,680
Speaker 3: knows you're you're the cool straight right. And I think

850
00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:22,759
Speaker 3: that is sort of the emotional labor of like we're

851
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,960
Speaker 3: tired of doing some of this work because you'll never

852
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:28,279
Speaker 3: know what it's like. And that's how I tried to

853
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:33,680
Speaker 3: explain too. I mean, I sometimes try to explain it,

854
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 3: and I'm I'm better, I'm worse at it. But I

855
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 3: think for me, when it dawned on me that like,

856
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 3: like if I was confused about queer theory, if I

857
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 3: didn't get it, it was because I'm not queer. If

858
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 3: I didn't understand like you know, like trans people, it's

859
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,319
Speaker 3: because I literally would never understand what it was like

860
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,880
Speaker 3: to feel like you were in a body that was

861
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 3: not yours, that was the wrong body. I will and

862
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 3: I will never understand that, just like pure and once

863
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 3: you sort of like let that wash over you, I

864
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,880
Speaker 3: feel like then you can really be a better person

865
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,680
Speaker 3: and an ally because it's not fucking about my understanding,

866
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:13,840
Speaker 3: it's about whether I believe in human rights or not.

867
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, Like, I I don't know what it's like

868
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 2: to be a personal color. I never will, like right, okay,

869
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:24,959
Speaker 2: I you know, I will just listen to people about

870
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:28,400
Speaker 2: their experiences and believe them, you know, right.

871
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly. You don't have to like go I mean

872
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:34,480
Speaker 3: you can, like me, like do some testing and figure

873
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 3: out whether bigotry exists. But it does. But yeah, yeah,

874
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 3: I think that's I don't know, but yeah, it's not

875
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,080
Speaker 3: even that radical. But I can imagine that for at

876
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 3: the time when they're like really trying to build and

877
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 3: like gay Straight Alliance, right, that was that, you know,

878
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:51,759
Speaker 3: I think that was a lot of people's kind of

879
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 3: liberal on ramp to you know, activism, and that had

880
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 3: to include straight people. It was a gay straight alliance,

881
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 3: like we're working to get right.

882
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 2: But hear me out, Okay, So I started the Gay

883
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 2: Straight Alliance at my high school as a as a

884
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,799
Speaker 2: straight kid. There was no gay people in my gay

885
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 2: straight alliance. We most of us were gay. Yeah, Like,

886
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 2: but it's interesting thing where Gay Straight Alliance is like one,

887
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,640
Speaker 2: it is actually good to be an alliance with people, right,

888
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 2: It is like genuinely good, but it's also it's an out.

889
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 2: It's a way of saying like, you don't have to

890
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:29,959
Speaker 2: come out of the closet to join the Gay Straight

891
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:31,719
Speaker 2: Alliance in a way that you have to come out

892
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:33,440
Speaker 2: of the closet in order to join the gay club

893
00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:36,719
Speaker 2: or whatever, right, right, right right, because like when I

894
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:40,799
Speaker 2: came out, like the next school over, the head of

895
00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:43,560
Speaker 2: the GSA was an out gay kid and it was hospitalized,

896
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 2: you know. Fuck. And it's funny. The way we started

897
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 2: my Gay Straight Alliance was I had been going to

898
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,719
Speaker 2: these regional GSA meetings and these two teachers who were

899
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,759
Speaker 2: so obviously in retrospect lesbians, They weren't out. One was

900
00:46:57,800 --> 00:46:59,920
Speaker 2: the woman gym teacher and the other was the like

901
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 2: butch social studies teacher with a hyphenated last name. They

902
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:09,759
Speaker 2: weren't together, no, I don't think so, and they like

903
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 2: cornered me in the stairwell where like the bad kids

904
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 2: hung out in the morning, you know. And they were like,

905
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,759
Speaker 2: did you know that teachers can't start student groups? And

906
00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:21,200
Speaker 2: I was like huh. And they were like, here's all

907
00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:24,040
Speaker 2: the paperwork, it's all filled out. Do you want to

908
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 2: start the Gay Straight Alliance? And I was like I

909
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:28,919
Speaker 2: do what a brilliant idea I have had.

910
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:33,640
Speaker 3: That's so funny they got to the credit. Yeah, that's

911
00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:37,319
Speaker 3: so great. Slash did all the work for you. Yeah

912
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 3: I didn't. Yeah, but teachers could like join later on.

913
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 3: I felt like.

914
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 2: They were advisors. So these were the teacher this like

915
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,080
Speaker 2: the the group had to be started by students, but

916
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:49,760
Speaker 2: it needed teacher advisors.

917
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:51,880
Speaker 3: Any right, right right, Yeah, I'm like trying to remember

918
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 3: how the politics of clubs worked in my school, right,

919
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:57,760
Speaker 3: But anyway, Yeah, No, that's a really good point about

920
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:03,120
Speaker 3: gay straight alliances. But yeah, I think that's interesting because

921
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,359
Speaker 3: like liberals wouldn't like that because you don't want to

922
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 3: demonize the people you're supposed to be, you know, lobbying.

923
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:10,640
Speaker 1: Mm.

924
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:13,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally exactly. And so a lot of people an

925
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:18,279
Speaker 2: act up were really upset by by this, and other

926
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:20,799
Speaker 2: people were really excited by it, you know. And and

927
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,480
Speaker 2: that's actually one of the things that I hearing people

928
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 2: who are in act up talk about it that they

929
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:27,640
Speaker 2: kind of in retrospect, they're really excited about. They're like,

930
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 2: we could disagree about things like we It wasn't everyone

931
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 2: had to accept everything that everyone else did. It's that

932
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:40,000
Speaker 2: you didn't kick people out so you were like, I mean,

933
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,359
Speaker 2: I think I'm sure some people were kicked out, but like,

934
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:46,279
Speaker 2: you know, overall, you were like, Okay, well, these people

935
00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:48,239
Speaker 2: are doing things that isn't how I would do it,

936
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 2: you know, and that doesn't stop. But it doesn't occur

937
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 2: to you to then be like, now I'm going to

938
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,719
Speaker 2: put all of my effort into fighting queer nation, you know.

939
00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, but again that's sort of part and parcel of like,

940
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:06,879
Speaker 3: you know, dire circumstances requires more alliances and requires more

941
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:10,000
Speaker 3: diversity of tactics, right, because what the fuck do we

942
00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 3: have to lose?

943
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like you're gonna kick that person out. They're dying,

944
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:20,759
Speaker 2: you know, right, right, and queer nations started. This is

945
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:24,040
Speaker 2: the era where homosexuality hit mainstream discourse in the US,

946
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:28,560
Speaker 2: and it is a dangerous moment. Trans people are discovering

947
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:30,000
Speaker 2: this now. I mean, it was still part of the

948
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 2: earlier stuff too, So once homosexuality entered the mainstream discourse,

949
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 2: violence spiked. By April nineteen ninety, violence was up one

950
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:44,600
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty two percent since the start of nineteen ninety.

951
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 2: Like in a four month period, violence went up one

952
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:52,040
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty two percent on April twenty eighth. I

953
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:54,719
Speaker 2: wrote twenty twenty four into my script, but that's not

954
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:57,760
Speaker 2: when it happened. I will bet money it's nineteen ninety,

955
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,360
Speaker 2: but it might be nineteen ninety one. I'm so sorry

956
00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:05,879
Speaker 2: the future listening to this. A guy named a gay

957
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:09,319
Speaker 2: bar named Uncle Charlie's I'm so good at my job.

958
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:13,360
Speaker 2: It was bombed with a pipe bomb and this injured

959
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:15,719
Speaker 2: three patrons. It sent them to the hospital. It was

960
00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:19,200
Speaker 2: like minor injuries and the police were immediately like, oh,

961
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:23,439
Speaker 2: this isn't a bias related crime, just a regular run

962
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 2: of the mill, not hate related bombing of a gay bar.

963
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:28,280
Speaker 3: Jesus.

964
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 2: Within hours after the blast, Queer Nation had a thousand

965
00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:35,720
Speaker 2: queers in the street to protest. Wow and actually eventually

966
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:37,439
Speaker 2: the bomber was caught. It was one of the first

967
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:40,000
Speaker 2: attacks on you of soil by a radical Muslim group

968
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,239
Speaker 2: that had targeted the bar for homosexuality. Alongside a bunch

969
00:50:43,239 --> 00:50:47,520
Speaker 2: of other like New York City landmarks. Queer Nation soon

970
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:51,840
Speaker 2: spread across the country also, but they also took field

971
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,800
Speaker 2: trips like individual groups. On May twelfth, they launched the

972
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,720
Speaker 2: Queer Shopping Network, where they went to a Jersey City

973
00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 2: mall to flyer about queerness with info about like famous

974
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:04,040
Speaker 2: queers in history and safe sex tips, and it was

975
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,960
Speaker 2: titled we're here, We're queer and we'd like to say hello.

976
00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:11,160
Speaker 2: Oh And I like that because it's they're doing both.

977
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 2: They are going to put out the flyer that says

978
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:18,800
Speaker 2: I hate straits and then explain its position. They're also

979
00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:21,240
Speaker 2: going to a you know, a mall in Jersey City

980
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:24,920
Speaker 2: to be like, hey, queer people exist and we're fine.

981
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly.

982
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:27,160
Speaker 2: You could even be one.

983
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's interesting. That's sort of

984
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 3: it reminds me like the I think it was a

985
00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:38,439
Speaker 3: Z's who has like a bit about you know, Muslims,

986
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 3: just like there need to be more positive images of them,

987
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:45,480
Speaker 3: just like eating a sandwich, like yeah, talking about a

988
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 3: video game. You never see those depictions. But yeah, It's

989
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:53,600
Speaker 3: what's incredible about this is how much these movements are

990
00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:56,120
Speaker 3: meeting people where they're at, Like, even if they're very

991
00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 3: radical themselves, and even if their tactics are radical, it's

992
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:05,360
Speaker 3: like the targets are so a mall also media massive target.

993
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:07,400
Speaker 3: I mean that was that to me feels like a

994
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:11,799
Speaker 3: very distinctly eighties thing, right, Like Yeah, that understanding that

995
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:15,120
Speaker 3: you have to fuck with the media because they are

996
00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:19,040
Speaker 3: driving this narrative broadly. And if you don't hold The

997
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 3: Times accountable or hold Cosmopolitan accountable, you know, like they're

998
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:29,279
Speaker 3: legitimate targets and you can affect thespective, the perspective of

999
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:30,319
Speaker 3: the country if you do that.

1000
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:35,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And I'm going to talk about one final

1001
00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:37,640
Speaker 2: aspect of act UP that they were heavily involved in

1002
00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 2: to save even more uncountable lives because act UP, along

1003
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:47,160
Speaker 2: with others during the AIDS crisis, developed needle exchange programs

1004
00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:50,840
Speaker 2: and fought for the legalization of needle exchange programs, which

1005
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:53,279
Speaker 2: they did in that order, which is the correct order

1006
00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:55,960
Speaker 2: to do life saving work. Start when it's illegal, if

1007
00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,040
Speaker 2: it needs to be done, and then demand that it

1008
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:02,719
Speaker 2: become legal. Possession and non prescription sale of needles was

1009
00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 2: illegal in a bunch of states, eleven of them in

1010
00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:08,400
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one. These are the states with the highest

1011
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:13,560
Speaker 2: incidents of AIDS, so illegal needle exchanges started up, providing

1012
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:16,920
Speaker 2: clean works to intravenous drug users. Some of these actually

1013
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,480
Speaker 2: pre date act UP, like the National AIDS Brigade in

1014
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:23,439
Speaker 2: Connecticut that started in nineteen eighty six. San Francisco had

1015
00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:27,240
Speaker 2: Prevention Point act Up, Boston had the Ivy League, plus

1016
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,120
Speaker 2: New York and the East Bay act Up also did

1017
00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:29,880
Speaker 2: needle exchange.

1018
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,479
Speaker 3: That was probably more that's great and it's just a good,

1019
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:33,640
Speaker 3: good pun.

1020
00:53:35,680 --> 00:53:36,560
Speaker 2: Especially in Boston.

1021
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:40,840
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, but I mean that's so that's so radical

1022
00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:42,960
Speaker 3: in itself, like first start doing something illegally. It's like

1023
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:47,040
Speaker 3: abortion clinics were the same thing. I mean, underground abortion providers.

1024
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:52,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. Study after study was showing even back then

1025
00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:54,920
Speaker 2: that access to clean needles greatly reduced the spread of

1026
00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 2: AIDS among needle drug users and it did not increase

1027
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:01,480
Speaker 2: the incidents of drug use. So there's like, like at

1028
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:04,120
Speaker 2: one point in the mid nineties, they were referencing six

1029
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,680
Speaker 2: different studies that have been done because Clinton kept being like,

1030
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:11,040
Speaker 2: oh well, I'll get to it. So some of these

1031
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 2: exchanges started to be run by cities, which was complicated.

1032
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:18,799
Speaker 2: A journalist writing at the time named Liz Hileyman wrote

1033
00:54:18,840 --> 00:54:21,600
Speaker 2: about the needle exchange for the Love and Rage Anarchist

1034
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:25,640
Speaker 2: Federation in nineteen ninety one. She wrote, state programs tend

1035
00:54:25,719 --> 00:54:28,279
Speaker 2: to exclude activists, and her tailored to meet the needs

1036
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 2: of bureaucrats rather than drug users. For example, a pilot

1037
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:35,400
Speaker 2: needle exchange program in New York City required drug users

1038
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:38,560
Speaker 2: to come to a central facility located across the street

1039
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:43,759
Speaker 2: from the police station. Why would anyone come to my drug?

1040
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:44,880
Speaker 3: Come on now?

1041
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:50,000
Speaker 2: And this is like around the same time that you know,

1042
00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:53,399
Speaker 2: as they're trying to do activism to help street sex

1043
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:57,280
Speaker 2: workers have access to condoms. Yes, cops are going around

1044
00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 2: and you know, arresting women for having condoms pocket because

1045
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:03,239
Speaker 2: that could be seen as evidence that they are doing

1046
00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,400
Speaker 2: sex work, which of course meant that fewer sex workers

1047
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 2: use condoms, which meant that HIV continued to x sex workers. Yeah,

1048
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:15,160
Speaker 2: but the government, the federal government wouldn't help out, even

1049
00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:18,280
Speaker 2: as cities did their like awkward and sort of sometimes

1050
00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:22,400
Speaker 2: well intentioned and sometimes not things. Congress passed its first

1051
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,520
Speaker 2: law that said or statute that said no federal money

1052
00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 2: for syringe distribution in nineteen eighty eight. That same statute

1053
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 2: is still in effect in some ways today.

1054
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:33,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's gonna say.

1055
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:38,080
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety six, the Foundation for Aids Research determined

1056
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:41,080
Speaker 2: that syringe exchange programs dropped HIV infections in New York

1057
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:46,759
Speaker 2: City by two thirds Jesus Christ, Clinton still wouldn't. Like

1058
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:49,640
Speaker 2: Clinton had said something basically like, oh, once we have

1059
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:52,920
Speaker 2: evidence that it'll it doesn't cause more drug use or whatever,

1060
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:54,680
Speaker 2: we'll do it. And so then they were like, here's

1061
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:56,600
Speaker 2: six studies, and he was like no, never mind.

1062
00:55:57,800 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 3: Still no, yeah, and yeah, anyway you might get to it.

1063
00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:03,759
Speaker 3: But I'm just reminded of the most recent freak out

1064
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:06,800
Speaker 3: during the pandemic, where I think the Biden administration included

1065
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:13,040
Speaker 3: like clean needles in a kit for drug users. I

1066
00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:15,319
Speaker 3: believe it was like federally funded in part, and the

1067
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:20,640
Speaker 3: right freaked out about it. Yeah, and they were removed.

1068
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:22,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe it.

1069
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:26,040
Speaker 3: They keep doing it, like they're they're trying to pass

1070
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:29,360
Speaker 3: more legislation. They keep on trying to rescind federal funding

1071
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:33,440
Speaker 3: for safe drug use while simultaneously, you know, decrying the

1072
00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:36,040
Speaker 3: fentanyl crisis. It's like, you literally have no plan and

1073
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:37,400
Speaker 3: you're not serious about stopping this.

1074
00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:43,640
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. In nineteen ninety seven, Act Up New York

1075
00:56:43,719 --> 00:56:47,640
Speaker 2: started a campaign for federal funding of needle exchange, and

1076
00:56:48,239 --> 00:56:49,600
Speaker 2: to be fair, this is one of the ones they

1077
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:53,040
Speaker 2: didn't win, but they sure drew attention to the issue.

1078
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 2: A thousand people marched on Clinton's birthday party in Manhattan

1079
00:56:56,719 --> 00:57:00,879
Speaker 2: in June. They formed the National Coalition to Lives Now,

1080
00:57:00,960 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 2: with an exclamation mark at the end because it was

1081
00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 2: the nineties, and they marched on like the Department of

1082
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 2: Health and Human Services. By October nineteen ninety seven, a

1083
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:13,120
Speaker 2: bunch of the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS, so they

1084
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:15,000
Speaker 2: were going to resign and mass if he didn't start

1085
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:19,160
Speaker 2: funding needle exchange. Activists interrupted the president to ask about

1086
00:57:19,160 --> 00:57:21,200
Speaker 2: this policy, and they were like willing. They'd like go

1087
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,640
Speaker 2: to his fundraisers and shit, and they would get like

1088
00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:26,120
Speaker 2: tackled and attacked by supporters in order to do so.

1089
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,760
Speaker 2: And what they were successful at they didn't get the

1090
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:34,440
Speaker 2: federal funding. The New York Public Department of Health said

1091
00:57:34,480 --> 00:57:38,240
Speaker 2: the nineteen ninety sixty percent of injection drug users had HIV.

1092
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:42,240
Speaker 2: After a decade of syringe activism, it went down to

1093
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:47,120
Speaker 2: ten percent by two thousand and one. That is how

1094
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:48,080
Speaker 2: you save lives.

1095
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:52,880
Speaker 3: They didn't still being discussed. I'm sorry, I'm just like

1096
00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:55,440
Speaker 3: there's been there are just these things that like and

1097
00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:58,760
Speaker 3: I think this safe drug use and needle exchange and

1098
00:57:58,800 --> 00:58:02,000
Speaker 3: harm reduction is one of like the biggest no brainers,

1099
00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 3: next to like, do we need more money for cops? No?

1100
00:58:05,560 --> 00:58:08,200
Speaker 3: But that one is like, there is so much evidence

1101
00:58:08,720 --> 00:58:12,480
Speaker 3: this saves lives, but it is so politically somehow still

1102
00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 3: politically toxic, even though everyone has family members, everyone has

1103
00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:21,440
Speaker 3: friends who've suffered, who've died. Like, you know, you've got

1104
00:58:21,480 --> 00:58:25,640
Speaker 3: fucking Gavin Newsom in California vetoing laws to create like

1105
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:30,280
Speaker 3: statewide harm reduction programs even though it's been approved by

1106
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:34,200
Speaker 3: the legislature and the studies are there, But no, he

1107
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:37,919
Speaker 3: cannot do it. It's just seen as politically toxic. There's

1108
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:39,920
Speaker 3: too many of these issues where people can be just

1109
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:41,040
Speaker 3: so fucking cowardly.

1110
00:58:41,640 --> 00:58:44,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. In two thousand and nine, the federal band was

1111
00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:46,480
Speaker 2: like briefly rescinded, but then Republicans to control of the House.

1112
00:58:46,480 --> 00:58:48,920
Speaker 2: In twenty eleven, it was reinstituted. And I asked a

1113
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:50,680
Speaker 2: friend of mine who works in harm reduction about this.

1114
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:53,200
Speaker 2: I was like, hey, do you like where's that currently?

1115
00:58:53,200 --> 00:58:54,680
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of news articles, but they're all

1116
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:56,440
Speaker 2: like two years old, three years old, at least the

1117
00:58:56,480 --> 00:58:58,440
Speaker 2: ones that I found. And so my friend told me

1118
00:58:58,480 --> 00:59:01,560
Speaker 2: that In twenty eighteen, the consolidated Appropriations Act allowed for

1119
00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:05,440
Speaker 2: federal funds to support syringe service programs, but those funds

1120
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:07,680
Speaker 2: can't be used to buy the actual needles. You can

1121
00:59:07,760 --> 00:59:11,440
Speaker 2: do everything else, but you can't buy the needles, even

1122
00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:14,720
Speaker 2: with federal funds, which is one of the cheapest parts

1123
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:16,040
Speaker 2: of running a harm reduction clinic.

1124
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:18,080
Speaker 3: What does that even mean? Would you like, like here

1125
00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:20,520
Speaker 3: you can three D print a needle and they give

1126
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:21,280
Speaker 3: you the blue print.

1127
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:24,040
Speaker 2: I think you go out and buy the needles yourself

1128
00:59:24,080 --> 00:59:28,040
Speaker 2: with with other funds, but the you know, and then

1129
00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:28,439
Speaker 2: a lot.

1130
00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:30,560
Speaker 3: Of civic funds can't be used for needles.

1131
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:35,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's their like way of threading that needle, uh,

1132
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:40,520
Speaker 2: running the needle. I love harm reduction services because they

1133
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:42,840
Speaker 2: operate when it's when it's legal and when it's illegal.

1134
00:59:43,560 --> 00:59:46,360
Speaker 2: I like drove up to an HIV place once to

1135
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:49,160
Speaker 2: get tested and this like guy met me in the

1136
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:51,600
Speaker 2: parking lot was like, do you need some needles? I

1137
00:59:51,640 --> 00:59:53,920
Speaker 2: was like, what, No, I'm here for HIV testing. He's like, oh,

1138
00:59:54,000 --> 00:59:57,240
Speaker 2: never mind. And it was it was during a period

1139
00:59:57,240 --> 00:59:59,440
Speaker 2: where the state I was in it was illegal. There

1140
00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:02,280
Speaker 2: was like a it constantly happens right where harm reduction

1141
01:00:02,520 --> 01:00:04,880
Speaker 2: services will be like doing their thing and then like

1142
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:07,919
Speaker 2: some Republican will be like, now it's a crime, yes, yeah,

1143
01:00:07,960 --> 01:00:09,959
Speaker 2: and then they just keep doing it. It just means

1144
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:12,680
Speaker 2: that someone who's not associated with the clinic is hanging

1145
01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:16,720
Speaker 2: out in the parking lot giving away needles, which yeah.

1146
01:00:17,160 --> 01:00:20,480
Speaker 3: That's actually like wonderful. And like I was saying, do

1147
01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:24,400
Speaker 3: you think yeah, and I think that I do feel

1148
01:00:24,400 --> 01:00:27,600
Speaker 3: like the abortion rights and reproductive rights movement needs to

1149
01:00:27,640 --> 01:00:29,400
Speaker 3: take a page out of that. It's like, these are

1150
01:00:29,440 --> 01:00:31,640
Speaker 3: going to be happening no matter what. And if y'all

1151
01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:33,920
Speaker 3: can like ping pong with the fucking legislation as much

1152
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:36,680
Speaker 3: as you want, but people need this life saving care.

1153
01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:41,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And that you know, no idea that guy

1154
01:00:41,360 --> 01:00:44,160
Speaker 2: in the parking lot was. That man was like, I'm

1155
01:00:44,520 --> 01:00:48,000
Speaker 2: gonna go do a crime every day that SAMs like

1156
01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:51,160
Speaker 2: get caught or until the laws change, because he was like,

1157
01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:54,480
Speaker 2: I'm gonna fucking stop people from dying, and like that

1158
01:00:54,600 --> 01:00:56,479
Speaker 2: anonymous hero is my fucking hero.

1159
01:00:57,040 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 3: You know, hell yeah, anonymous hero.

1160
01:01:00,640 --> 01:01:05,400
Speaker 2: So in nineteen ninety six, AIDS deaths took their first

1161
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:08,840
Speaker 2: dip in the US thanks to new drugs, safer sex education,

1162
01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:11,920
Speaker 2: harm reduction, and just all the things that act UP

1163
01:01:11,960 --> 01:01:16,960
Speaker 2: fought for. Like there's no I mean yes, there's other

1164
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:20,520
Speaker 2: people involved, absolutely, the researchers, absolutely, the people doing this

1165
01:01:20,680 --> 01:01:22,680
Speaker 2: other work who weren't necessarily part of act UP. Act

1166
01:01:22,720 --> 01:01:24,960
Speaker 2: UP is not alone in having done this, but they

1167
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:29,240
Speaker 2: were part of a movement that worked. Act UP New

1168
01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:31,800
Speaker 2: York is still around, it is still non hierarchical and

1169
01:01:31,840 --> 01:01:34,360
Speaker 2: all volunteer. It's not as big as it used to be.

1170
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,760
Speaker 2: They're also nonpartisan and they don't endorse politicians, but they

1171
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:42,720
Speaker 2: are very vocal about supporting Palestine. And so all the

1172
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:48,400
Speaker 2: like silence equals death with the triangle watermelon like act

1173
01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:51,000
Speaker 2: UP seems to fucking approve. You know, that's not a

1174
01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:56,000
Speaker 2: misappropriation of that iconography. And I want to end by

1175
01:01:56,040 --> 01:01:59,560
Speaker 2: describing one more action, the final action that was taken

1176
01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:01,640
Speaker 2: by a guy named Steve Michael, the founder of the

1177
01:02:01,720 --> 01:02:05,320
Speaker 2: DC chapter, because before he did this action, on May

1178
01:02:06,120 --> 01:02:09,720
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight, he died. He died due to AIDS

1179
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:15,080
Speaker 2: related pneumonia. His last wish was a political funeral, So

1180
01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:18,760
Speaker 2: one hundred people proceeded in silence for half a mile

1181
01:02:18,840 --> 01:02:21,840
Speaker 2: up to the White House holding his open casket while

1182
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:25,160
Speaker 2: he wore an ACT up shirt, his loved ones gave

1183
01:02:25,200 --> 01:02:27,520
Speaker 2: eulogies in front of the White House and condemned the

1184
01:02:27,520 --> 01:02:29,360
Speaker 2: Clinton administration for their legacy of.

1185
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:32,720
Speaker 3: Inaction and amazing.

1186
01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:39,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just fucking beautiful. Like we all die, you know,

1187
01:02:40,280 --> 01:02:42,600
Speaker 2: like let's figure out how to make it mean something.

1188
01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:48,960
Speaker 2: And that is the story about how a nonpartisan, politically pluralistic,

1189
01:02:49,040 --> 01:02:53,120
Speaker 2: horizontal direct action group has saved millions of lives and

1190
01:02:53,240 --> 01:02:57,440
Speaker 2: even continues to do so from actions they took thirty

1191
01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:00,520
Speaker 2: forty years ago, and.

1192
01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:04,720
Speaker 3: The struggle continues. I mean, this is fucking wild. I mean,

1193
01:03:04,760 --> 01:03:07,520
Speaker 3: this is like the kind of militancy that we need

1194
01:03:07,920 --> 01:03:11,320
Speaker 3: about everyday human rights and health rights that we don't

1195
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:14,120
Speaker 3: always have and see, and the kind of bravery that

1196
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:17,800
Speaker 3: we need. But like, what I love about this movement

1197
01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:21,280
Speaker 3: is also that it kind of laid the groundwork for

1198
01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:23,840
Speaker 3: the future, so that yeah, we're still fighting these harm

1199
01:03:23,840 --> 01:03:27,520
Speaker 3: reduction fights. We're still fighting for you know, whatever it is,

1200
01:03:27,520 --> 01:03:30,880
Speaker 3: safe injection sites and whatnot. We're still fighting I mean

1201
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:34,240
Speaker 3: for equal access to like healthcare or universal care right,

1202
01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:37,400
Speaker 3: or the lowering of you know, pharmaceutical prices and all this,

1203
01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:42,800
Speaker 3: and for visibility and for human rights, for queer people.

1204
01:03:42,840 --> 01:03:46,280
Speaker 3: So it's just I don't know, there's not to again

1205
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:48,400
Speaker 3: go back to the and I know, the like, you know,

1206
01:03:48,440 --> 01:03:51,600
Speaker 3: reproductive rights movement was militant at some point, but it

1207
01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:58,040
Speaker 3: feels like it hasn't been. Like the act of is

1208
01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:01,200
Speaker 3: still radical, Like this is still a rat desire to

1209
01:04:02,360 --> 01:04:05,680
Speaker 3: like harm reduction is still radical. And I don't feel

1210
01:04:05,680 --> 01:04:08,760
Speaker 3: like every movement that can can say that that is one,

1211
01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:10,480
Speaker 3: you know, won these gains over the you know, the

1212
01:04:10,560 --> 01:04:14,840
Speaker 3: last few decades. Yeah, one random thing I was watching,

1213
01:04:15,040 --> 01:04:17,760
Speaker 3: there's a Netflix stock on Hulu called like the Dark

1214
01:04:17,760 --> 01:04:19,520
Speaker 3: Side of Comedy and being a stand up. I was like,

1215
01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:22,600
Speaker 3: I gotta watch this. It's actually a it's it's a

1216
01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:24,400
Speaker 3: Netflix stock. What did I say? It's a Vice doc

1217
01:04:24,480 --> 01:04:28,680
Speaker 3: on Hulu and and like the third episode is about

1218
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:34,280
Speaker 3: Andrew Dice clay right, a massive like homophobic and sexist,

1219
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:40,000
Speaker 3: you know whatever, shock comic, and the gay community was

1220
01:04:40,040 --> 01:04:42,640
Speaker 3: trying to protest because he was like invited to host

1221
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:46,080
Speaker 3: on SNL and blah blah blah, which was seen obviously

1222
01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:49,800
Speaker 3: as a massive you know, you know, condoning of his

1223
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:54,480
Speaker 3: fucking rhetoric and all this shit. And they basically like no, no, no,

1224
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:56,800
Speaker 3: it wasn't snl. It was he was gonna have this

1225
01:04:56,840 --> 01:05:01,000
Speaker 3: whole movie series. And they targeted execu katives in Hollywood

1226
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:05,240
Speaker 3: who they knew were gay and went and plastered posters

1227
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:10,280
Speaker 3: around the town being like you endorse Andrew dised Clay's homophobia,

1228
01:05:10,400 --> 01:05:14,480
Speaker 3: Like you endorse like homophobic haate and like their faces

1229
01:05:14,520 --> 01:05:18,200
Speaker 3: these random executives, and it fucking worked. It was like,

1230
01:05:18,320 --> 01:05:21,720
Speaker 3: oh shit, we like you're making money, You're profiting off

1231
01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:25,080
Speaker 3: of this. So in that same I don't know the

1232
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:28,160
Speaker 3: idea of like having a community, I know, the gay

1233
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:31,040
Speaker 3: community not a monolith, the queer community not a monolith,

1234
01:05:31,240 --> 01:05:33,520
Speaker 3: but being able to like call out those folks in

1235
01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:37,440
Speaker 3: high places, you know, whether it is in yeah, the CDC,

1236
01:05:37,640 --> 01:05:41,080
Speaker 3: or in industries or in newspapers and be like even

1237
01:05:41,160 --> 01:05:43,280
Speaker 3: outing them, like I know you're gay. Are you literally

1238
01:05:43,320 --> 01:05:44,840
Speaker 3: going to make a profit off this? Are you literally

1239
01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:47,560
Speaker 3: going to ignore the death in the street. That's just

1240
01:05:47,600 --> 01:05:49,640
Speaker 3: such a strategic tactic.

1241
01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:52,120
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1242
01:05:52,280 --> 01:05:54,720
Speaker 3: Anyway, and androdised Clay is these movies didn't get made, but.

1243
01:05:55,640 --> 01:06:00,160
Speaker 2: All poor guy, he's a tour and make them of

1244
01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:00,800
Speaker 2: money that way.

1245
01:06:02,040 --> 01:06:05,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, him and Rob Schneider can go co headline the

1246
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:08,640
Speaker 1: shittiest comedians in the country.

1247
01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:11,760
Speaker 3: Tour Rob Schneider getting kicked out of some like some

1248
01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:14,240
Speaker 3: hospital in Canada, like was like, hey, you want to

1249
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:15,880
Speaker 3: do a fundraiser for us? Like what are you doing?

1250
01:06:16,160 --> 01:06:20,000
Speaker 3: What is this a terrible idea? And they like ended

1251
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:22,200
Speaker 3: as set after ten minutes or some shit.

1252
01:06:22,400 --> 01:06:24,280
Speaker 1: I saw something that was like, why the fuck are

1253
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:27,880
Speaker 1: people still booking Adam Sandler's eighth closest friend.

1254
01:06:30,200 --> 01:06:33,840
Speaker 3: He had a Netflix special, Rob Schneider next Netflix special,

1255
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:36,120
Speaker 3: like a couple of years ago. Like Rob Scheider couldn't

1256
01:06:36,120 --> 01:06:39,000
Speaker 3: have got a Netflix special when he was popular, you

1257
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:41,560
Speaker 3: know what I mean? Like, yeah, what are we doing?

1258
01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:45,000
Speaker 3: They literally go after boomers who are losing their mind

1259
01:06:45,120 --> 01:06:50,080
Speaker 3: about whatever woke? But I fucking love act Up. I

1260
01:06:50,120 --> 01:06:52,920
Speaker 3: think it's it's such an incredible model. But for sure,

1261
01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:56,439
Speaker 3: the affinity groups, the things that have something to do

1262
01:06:56,560 --> 01:07:02,680
Speaker 3: with like your direct life, your livelihood, you can unity that,

1263
01:07:02,720 --> 01:07:04,080
Speaker 3: I feel like is the takeaway?

1264
01:07:04,360 --> 01:07:09,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so much the set up, the systems for care,

1265
01:07:09,840 --> 01:07:13,520
Speaker 2: keep the people engaged, who the people who are engaged,

1266
01:07:13,640 --> 01:07:16,760
Speaker 2: make sure that they specifically feel welcome and special for

1267
01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:21,480
Speaker 2: being part of your movement. Like there's just so much,

1268
01:07:21,640 --> 01:07:24,480
Speaker 2: like the fact that they managed to create this like open, warm,

1269
01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:29,120
Speaker 2: inclusive movement of angry people yelling at people, you know,

1270
01:07:29,240 --> 01:07:32,240
Speaker 2: without I mean, yes they yelled at each other too,

1271
01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:34,840
Speaker 2: but they had like I don't know, And there's so

1272
01:07:34,920 --> 01:07:36,920
Speaker 2: much more. A lot of work has been done more

1273
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:40,200
Speaker 2: recently about act Up and there's like all kinds of

1274
01:07:40,240 --> 01:07:42,680
Speaker 2: stuff you can look at and different takeaways that people

1275
01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:47,840
Speaker 2: have come from it. Have whatever. Have I claim that

1276
01:07:47,880 --> 01:07:49,640
Speaker 2: I got a snack between the first half and the

1277
01:07:49,680 --> 01:07:51,560
Speaker 2: second half, but the snack is starting to wear out

1278
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:53,000
Speaker 2: and I'm beginning, so.

1279
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:54,240
Speaker 3: We should do plugs.

1280
01:07:54,520 --> 01:07:56,520
Speaker 2: It's time for plugs. That's what it is.

1281
01:07:57,240 --> 01:07:57,600
Speaker 1: Plug.

1282
01:07:58,040 --> 01:07:59,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what do you got?

1283
01:07:59,800 --> 01:08:01,480
Speaker 3: Just what do I got? I got a podcast called

1284
01:08:01,520 --> 01:08:04,680
Speaker 3: The Bituation Room. It's news comedy. It comes out every

1285
01:08:04,960 --> 01:08:08,440
Speaker 3: Wednesday morning and then there's a couple other Wednesday and Friday.

1286
01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:10,680
Speaker 3: So listen to that or watch it on YouTube or

1287
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:14,120
Speaker 3: twitch at Franny Feo fr A and i fio, which

1288
01:08:14,120 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 3: is where you can follow me on all the things.

1289
01:08:16,479 --> 01:08:19,559
Speaker 2: So you're saying, if people who listen to my show

1290
01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:21,639
Speaker 2: but I only talk about history, want to know about

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01:08:21,640 --> 01:08:24,360
Speaker 2: what's actually happening, they can go to your show. Is

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01:08:24,400 --> 01:08:26,000
Speaker 2: that what you're suggesting.

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01:08:25,600 --> 01:08:30,080
Speaker 3: Totally trying to interesting. I'm here get more news.

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01:08:30,960 --> 01:08:35,120
Speaker 2: My news that isn't news is because I've told you've

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01:08:35,160 --> 01:08:36,519
Speaker 2: been telling me about it for a month. Is that

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01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:40,120
Speaker 2: I am kickstarting my debut novel called The Sapling Cage.

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01:08:40,120 --> 01:08:42,880
Speaker 2: I've written many novella's and at one being Adventurer of

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01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:45,240
Speaker 2: your own choosing legally distinct from Chooser and adventure who

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01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:47,120
Speaker 2: sent me a seasoned assystem at letter At one point

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01:08:48,080 --> 01:08:49,720
Speaker 2: that was a long time ago. But now I have

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01:08:49,760 --> 01:08:51,800
Speaker 2: a novel coming out. It's called The Sapling Cage, and

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01:08:51,840 --> 01:08:54,000
Speaker 2: it is coming out from Feminist Press in September twenty

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01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:56,320
Speaker 2: twenty four, and it is being kickstarted now. When listen,

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01:08:56,320 --> 01:08:58,760
Speaker 2: you're listening in the future, in which case I hope

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01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:01,400
Speaker 2: that everything's okay in the future. Sure, and uh, you

1306
01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:06,639
Speaker 2: have enough food and water. That's what I got. See

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Speaker 2: you next week.

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Speaker 1: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of

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01:09:14,840 --> 01:09:17,920
Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts and cool Zone Media,

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01:09:18,120 --> 01:09:21,360
Speaker 1: visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out

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01:09:21,439 --> 01:09:24,840
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts.