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Article: ACT UP
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ACT UP
ACT UP,
the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was founded in 1987 by the homosexual author and activist Larry Kramer as a grassroots organization "united in anger" to end the AIDS crisis. Through aggressive non-violent protests and civil disobedience, ACT UP became the standard-bearer for AIDS activism in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Organizations in major U.S. cities effectively increased public understanding of AIDS, pressed the federal Food and Drug Administration to release new treatments for AIDS, demanded that the government establish a national policy on AIDS and prohibit discrimination against AIDS patients, and urged ...