Friday, June 26th - 8AM
Pershing Square at 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017
'Money for AIDS, not for war,' was a slogan of the ACT UP days of desperation actions of January 1991, when ACTUP disrupted commuter traffic at grand central station. Activists coordinated the mass actions to protest government inaction on the AIDS crisis and the prioritization of the Persian Gulf War. Three and a half decades later, we are in the same fight. With some 70 billion allocated to ICE and the PEPFAR program, which has enjoyed bipartisan support gutted, a group of actup members hang banners and blocked traffic at 42nd street, calling for healthcare, not warfare.
“ACTUP fight back, fight AIDS. Close Delaney Hall. Free them all!!!!” we chanted.
Police moved in fast. I was in banner holding a banner over 42nd street. Police arrived, asking us to leave. We didn’t say anything. They arrested us and took us to the precinct inside Grand Central Station. They didn't hold us long. So we went downtown to wait for the others outside the police precinct at Pitt Street. Standing there, we spoke with a woman smoking a cigarette. Why are you here, she asked. We were protesting for healthcare, money for aids, not ice, not delaney hall. We're waiting for our friends to get out. My mother and my sister died of that, she told me. Still hurts. I still miss them, she told us.
Most of jail support, we told old activist stories, about this and that, waiting for everyone. BC, who was with us, told stories about the Days of Desperation and Bridges and Tunnels, the legendary 1995 coalition action with ACT UP and Housing Works, Puerto Rican and disability activists across the city:
“ACT UP activists resist New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani About 75 protesters shut down all six lanes that fed into the tunnel entrance. …
“Reflections on March/ April 1995 'Bridges and Tunnels' Budget Protests.”
“Rush-Hour Protest Causes Gridlock - The New York .. 1995/04/26 › nyregion › ru...Apr 26, 1995 — Hundreds of demonstrators blocked two bridges and two tunnels in Manhattan during the height of the rush hour yesterday, causing serious…”
Ryan Casey, who organized the June 2026 demo, wrote:
“The Horrors Persist. But So Do We.
The community of folks who take the streets embody a profound love. The shared gratitude for one another is palpable— a powerful feeling.
Your fight is my fight.
ACT UP! FIGHT BACK! FIGHT AIDS!”
!!! PRIDE WAS A PROTEST !!!
MONEY FOR AIDS + HEALTHCARE
NOT FOR ICE + WARFARE
CLOSE DELANEY HALL
FREE THEM ALL
On June 26th 2026, ACT UP NY led a Civil Disobedience— a banner drop and street blockade at Pershing Square - 42nd St— with comrades from Sunrise NYC + Planet Over Profit + human rights activists from across New York. 14 activists were arrested.
In January 1991, ACT UP New York shutdown Grand Central terminal with, one of, their “Day of Desperation” Actions— MONEY FOR AIDS NOT FOR WAR. It was the height of the AIDS Crisis in America and taxpayer dollars were funding the Persian Gulf War.
The 2027 MAGA Fiscal Year Budget proposes $1.5 Trillion for the United States Department of WAR.
And an estimated $1.5 Billion funding cut to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and research programs.
The MAGA Administration recently announced the complete termination of the $4.8 Billion budget for the PEPFAR program.
8 Million HIV+ People in South Africa will lose access to their life-saving medications.
ICE has been given another $70 Billion funding package— atop their current $85 Billion budget.
At the Delaney Hall ICE Encampment, just across the Hudson River in New Jersey— an HIV+ detainee has been denied access to their medication.
The detainees inside have been holding a labor and hunger strike regarding the deprived conditions of the facility— and actions of ICE employees.
ACT UP New York is in solidarity with our comrades inside Delaney Hall.
Ken Schles, who took photos, wrote: “Tense moments from Friday morning’s ACT UP NY shutdown of rush hour 42nd Street outside of Grand Central Terminal.
14 were arrested calling for “Funding for AIDS + healthcare! Not for ICE + warfare! Close Delany Hall! Free them all!”
The violence and death this administration is wreaking across communities spanning the globe is not simply a tragedy, but a crime and a moral failure that needs to be recognized, called out, remembered and addressed.
These criminals have been waging a war against democracy, science, the environment and engaging in terror wars on the most vulnerable populations while they rob the coffers of the American people. From concentration camps here in America to bombing innocents abroad, from grift in the nation’s capital to war crimes on land and sea, their actions must be continually condemned, called out and prosecuted.”
Back from my morning arrest at Grand Central and jail support, we walked to Lucky Bar to meet a few friends, and prep for the Drag March. Greeting Abby inside, it feels like I’m saying hi to everyone i know. Walking to Tompkins Square Park, we say hi to Wendy, who had blue glasses, and Brian, who started it all, and David from the Lower East Side Collective, and Babs and Laurie in pink, and Anne Christine of the Lesbian Avengers just back from the Venice Biennale. and Savitri from the Church of Stop Shopping, and Karen from group material and the Church Ladies for Choice, organizing to serenade the dyke march, and Huckelfaerie, who opened the circle for us all, and all the photographers, who filled the circle, and the trans kids who chanted, and the drummers, the people who blew bubbles, as Randolfe, in a wheelchair, and Ryan, who organized our actup civil disobedience earlier in the day and we were in jail with, on his way back to get another arrestee out of the tombs, and Sarah Sparkles who we comes every year and told me about her boyfriend, and ken and Ellen from actup, and the rise and resisters marshalling, as we walked to the Stonewall, where they rioted the last Sunday of June 1969, responding to the police raid after Judy Garland's funeral.
In honor of her Brian lead us singing, 'somewhere over the rainbow.' Those magic words reminding us:
“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops, That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow; why, then, oh why can't I? (orchestra interlude) Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops, That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow; why, then, oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, Why, oh why can't I?”
The Drag March is our Mardi Gras.
For a while there, everyone is queer, singing with and supporting each other.
ACT UP’s press release:
For ACT UP’s 39th Anniversary, we took our MONEY FOR AIDS + HEALTHCARE ! NOT
FOR ICE + WARFARE ! campaign to Palantir’s Manhattan offices.
ACT UP is continuing the campaign to honor the legacy of the Stonewall rebellion— and the
legacy of ACT UP as a Nonviolent Direct Action Group. We are using our First Amendment
Right in the face of an immoral government.
ACT UP is declaring New York’s solidarity with our comrades striking inside Delaney Hall.
ACT UP is declaring our solitary with our Immigrant Brothers and Sisters who have been
kidnapped by the American Government.
ACT UP is declaring New York’s solidarity with our comrades across the country who are
bearing witness to ICE’s unlawful activities.
Border Czar, Tom Homan has threatened to surge ICE upon New Yorkers.
ACT UP declares we will continue to uphold New York as a sanctuary city.
In the 2027 MAGA Fiscal Year Budget— $1.5 Billion is estimated to be cut from HIV/AIDS
treatment, prevention, and research programs (HIV+Hep Policy Institute).
The MAGA Administration is proposing 23 states make significant cuts to their AIDS Drug
Assistance Programs (ADAP) which would cause thousands to lose access to life-saving
medications (The Hill).
In January 2025, the MAGA State Department began withholding the $4.8 Billion funding
delegated to The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
It is estimated that over 280,000 people have died globally from AIDS-related complications due
to the PEPFAR funding freezes (PEPFAR Program Impact Tracker).
In June 2026, the MAGA Administration announced the United States will eliminate the
PEPFAR program. 8 Million HIV+ People in South Africa will lose access to their medications (BBC).
H.R.1 (One Big Beautiful Bill) will cut $1 Trillion from Medicaid over the next decade.
1 out of 5 transgender Americans will lose access to their Medicaid health insurance.
40% of HIV+ Americans will lose access to their Medicaid health insurance (Infectious Diseases
Society of America).
An HIV+ detainee inside Delaney Hall has been denied access to their HIV medication
(PRISM).
ICE has a $10.8 Billion base budget.
ICE is receiving a $75 Billion multi-year supplemental budget.
ICE is receiving a $70 Billion supplemental package (NPR).
The 2027 MAGA Fiscal Year Budget proposes $1.5 Trillion for the United States Army
(Department of WAR).
The United States has provided an estimated $21.7 Billion in military aid to Israel since October
2023 (Brown University, September 2025).
MAGA’s War with Iran has cost Americans over $132 Billion (NPR).
To end MAGA’s War with Iran, it will cost Americans $300 Billion.
ACT UP DEMANDS—
MONEY FOR AIDS + HEALTHCARE !!! NOT FOR ICE + WARFARE !!!
ACT UP DEMANDS—
CLOSE DELANEY HALL !!! FREE THEM ALL !!!
THE AIDS CRISIS IS NOT OVER !
THE AIDS CRISIS IS NOT OVER— BECAUSE OF MAGA !
HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT ! ABOLISH ICE !
ACT UP! FIGHT BACK! FIGHT AIDS! FIGHT FACISM !
HAPPY PRIDE—
ACT UP New York
ACT UP New York
