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Mj Rodriguez in "Pose" | Photo by Jojo Whilden © Copyright FX Networks

On the Season Two premiere of “Pose,” the FX drama about a group of L.G.B.T. people of color living on the margins of New York City in the 1980s and ’90s, activists are shown protesting inside New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The activists, part of an organization called AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or Act Up, targeted institutions that they believed hindered progress in fighting the spread of H.I.V. and finding a cure for AIDS. Among them were pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street banks, the Reagan administration and the Catholic Church.

On Dec. 10, 1989, Act Up demonstrated against Cardinal John O’Connor’s political efforts to stymie gay rights legislation and the archdiocese’s opposition to the teaching of safer-sex methods in Catholic and or in public schools during the height of the AIDS crisis in the United States. The protest remains one of the largest ever staged against the church: more than 4,500 people participated, and over 100 were arrested by New York police.

Listen to America's newest podcast "Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church" here.

“Pose,” which highlights the experiences of African-American and Latino transgender women, is based in part on the 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning.” The series is set in New York's “ballroom culture,” an L.G.B.T. underground scene where people “walk,” or compete in balls. These balls famously gave birth to “voguing.” The series, which has already been renewed for a third season, tracks the journey of Blanca, played by Mj Rodriguez, as she forms her family, composed of other members of the L.G.B.T. community and known as the House of Evangelista. The first season focuses on the complex lives of those who competed in the voguing competitions. The second season focuses on the H.I.V. and AIDS crisis of the early 1990s and the political and societal prejudices members of the L.G.B.T. community faced.

“Pose,” which highlights the experiences of African-American and Latino transgender women, is based in part on the 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning.”

The season premiere, “Acting Up,” begins with Blanca and the ballroom M.C. Pray Tell, played by Billy Porter, visiting Hart Island, where hundreds of people who died of AIDS-related complications in the 1980s and 1990s are said to be buried, their bodies isolated from others. Blanca and Pray Tell, upset by the indignity they witness as burial crews lower pine boxes into a mass grave, pledge to step up their efforts to bring attention to the plight of people with H.I.V. and AIDS.

Part of that commitment is participating in the Act Up protest at St. Patrick’s, which the show sets in 1990 (a year late) and which is filmed in a church interior that is not St. Patrick’s. But many other details about the protest scene are true to history.

Act Up called the protest “Stop the Church.” In addition to members of Act Up, members of the Women’s Health Action Mobilization joined in, protesting in favor of access to abortion. This particular protest was just one in a string of rallies aimed at the cardinal in the 1980s. The Catholic L.G.B.T. group Dignity protested the cardinal for months in 1987, upset that he evicted the group from worshipping at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan.

“Pose” recreates an Act Up meeting to plan the protest, with a character arguing, “The Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars putting the false message into the world that condoms don’t work and that abstinence is the only way to fight HIV. That is a lie.” Claiming that Cardinal O’Connor influenced the policies of Pope John Paul II, the activist continues, “We will not allow his racist, sexist, homophobic ideologies to affect the health of every single person on this planet!” The assembly erupts into a chant, “Fight AIDS! Act up! Fight back!”

The Protest in Real Life

Act Up’s decision to protest inside St. Patrick’s was more controversial within the group itself than “Pose” shows. Some members argued that the protest’s target was the cardinal, not the worshipers inside; they suggested the group not disturb the Mass. But others said that attracting attention to their cause was more important than not causing offense. They argued that entering the church would make the media notice and perhaps change some minds about the need to step up the nation’s fight against AIDS. By this point, nearly 20,000 New Yorkers, and close to 60,000 Americans overall, had died from AIDS. No cure was in sight and prejudice from nearly every sector of society was still common.

As something of a compromise, Act Up decided that people who wished to protest inside the church would enter, dressed conservatively to blend into the congregation, and stage a silent “die-in” during the homily, which they considered the most political, and least sacred, part of the service.

During the homily, protesters threw themselves onto the floor of the central aisle, symbolizing those who had died from AIDS.

Church officials were tipped off to the protest, and plainclothes police were seated inside the cathedral for the 10:15 morning Mass. Political leaders, including Mayor Ed Koch, attended as a show of support to the cardinal.

Members of Act Up passed out decoy programs to worshippers, designed to look like the real thing, but instead of hymns and readings, they contained information about H.I.V. and pleas for support in their mission. During the homily, protesters threw themselves onto the floor of the central aisle, symbolizing those who had died from AIDS.

In an effort to wrest control from the protesters, Cardinal O’Connor urged the congregation to pray. Sensing that the protest was losing steam, Act Up member Michael Petrelis stood on a pew, blew a whistle and began shouting, “You’re killing us!” The church organist played loudly, trying to drown out the protesters. Pandemonium broke out. Police moved in, arresting more than 40 people inside the church, carrying some of them out on stretchers.

Years later, Mr. Petrellis said he had “no regrets” about his role in turning the protest from a silent die-in into something more rambunctious.

While the legacy of Cardinal O’Connor, who died in 2000, is controversial, countless Catholic sisters and brothers, priests and laypeople worked on the front lines during the AIDS crisis.

“It was liberating,” he told me. “For me, standing up in the church, blowing the whistle, the screaming, was my reclaiming my spirituality from the hatred of the church.”

Perhaps the most controversial part of “Stop the Church,” which was not dramatized in "Pose" but which dominated headlines following the protest, was when, during Communion, the Act Up protester Thomas Keane took the host from his hand, crumbled it and threw the pieces on the floor. He then lay on the floor so that the Eucharistic minister had to step over him to continue distributing Communion. He was later arrested following his part in the protest.

In a 2015 interview with the Act Up Oral History Project, Keane said that even though he had been raised Catholic, he did not quite understand the importance of the Eucharist to believers. “[I]t wasn’t premeditated, and I think if I had thought through things more I maybe would not have done it, but I don’t feel any regret, really,” he said.

The dramatization of the Act Up protest in “Pose” shows only a tiny bit of the Catholic Church’s role in the history of H.I.V. and AIDS. While the legacy of Cardinal O’Connor, who died in 2000, is controversial, countless Catholic sisters and brothers, priests and laypeople worked on the front lines during the AIDS crisis. Still, the cardinal, perhaps the last of the highly politically influential prelates to lead the church in New York City, campaigned against L.G.B.T. nondiscrimination laws. He prohibited the teaching of safer-sex methods, including the use of condoms, in Catholic schools, and though he called for an end to violence against gay people, he described “homosexual behavior” as “sinful.” His supporters point out, however, that Cardinal O’Connor also oversaw a Catholic health care system that included some of the first centers in New York to treat people with H.I.V. and AIDS, including St. Vincent’s Hospital and St. Clare’s Hospital, where he made regular visits to patients.

“Act Up’s decision to protest inside St. Patrick’s was more controversial within the group itself than “Pose” shows.”

As for the efficacy of the protest, Sarah Schulman, a playwright and novelist who is working on a history of Act Up, told me earlier this year for an article in The Daily Beast that though public opinion initially turned against Act Up, people ultimately came around.

“In the moment, I was horrified that all this had happened,” she said. “But it turned out that it was one of our best actions. It was covered all over the world.”

Now, 30 years after it happened, “Stop the Church,” which was previously the subject of a controversial 1991 documentary that aired on some PBS stations, has been dramatized on one of television’s most critically acclaimed shows.

More: TV / LGBT
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G Reeder-Ferreira
4 years 9 months ago

Those were some of the darkest times in LGBT history. Being told that getting HIV was God's punishment for being gay and straight people didn't have to worry about contracting the disease. People were timid and agreed with every and any viewpoint coming from Christianity, and many paid deeply for that. Life is shown as complicated and frantic in this scene with divergent views. I love the show of confidence and strength and how they chose to be noticed and carry a definite opinion of redemption! Bravo!! Love Pose!

Kevin Murphy
4 years 9 months ago

Their behaviour at Saint Patrick's was disgraceful. Also, I don't find it shocking that Cardinal O'Connor described gay sex as sinful. That may not be the view at America, but it is the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Opting Out
4 years 9 months ago

“The Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars putting the false message into the world that condoms don’t work and that abstinence is the only way to fight HIV. That is a lie.”

That comment is not only categorically false but time has proven it to be more true now than when uttered back then. The only guaranteed way for gay men to not get HIV is to abstain from anal sex. That or a monogamous relationship. PrEP/ Truvada with condoms also provides a high degree of protection but that requires daily compliance of taking Truvada, which is at best 50% with gay men who take PrEP/Truvada to prevent HIV when sexually active

But others said that attracting attention to their cause was more important than not causing offense. They argued that entering the church would make the media notice and perhaps change some minds about the need to step up the nation’s fight against AIDS

To understand ACTUP (started in 1987) one only need to become familiar with the life of its founder Larry Kramer, an American playwright and film producer. Larry hated his parents, his brother Arthur and he were continually at war until the latter died in 2008, and Larry was habitually in mental crisis including suicidal attempts (during his years at Yale with an overdose with aspirin), failing student at Yale, hospital admission due to anxiety attacks from his plays failing (“Just Say No”, 1988), depression, even writing about his dysfunctional relationships in his plays (Sissies' Scrapbook, 1973). Kramer is a tortured soul and redirected his inner turmoil by creating ACTUP. Yale rejected his donation offer of millions of dollars for gay studies in 1997. "Arenson, Karen W: Playwright Is Denied A Final Act; Writing Own Script, Yale Refuses Kramer's Millions for Gay Studies", NY Times, July 9, 1997). Kramer has always been a frustrated, conflicted man and that is on him. His Jewish roots were an opportunity to seek inner peace and live in God’s love, but he rejected Judaism as well.

While the legacy of Cardinal O’Connor, who died in 2000, is controversial...

There is nothing controversial about Cdl O’Connor. ACTUP was created by Larry Kramer in 1987 as a group of angry men showing misplaced, radical aggression who accomplished nothing other than being an eyesore for HIV. ACTIP eventually disbanded 7 years later in 1994 due to the members habitually denouncing each other and warring against national ACTUP chapters

https://web.archive.org/web/20090117015600/http://www.sfweekly.com/content/printVersion/306128

To describe them as the ANTIFA of today would be very accurate: radical, violent, attention seeking left wing political group of no consequence

“It was liberating,” he told me. “For me, standing up in the church, blowing the whistle, the screaming, was my reclaiming my spirituality from the hatred of the church.”

In the moment, I was horrified that all this had happened,” she said. “But it turned out that it was one of our best actions. It was covered all over the world.”

Attention seeking behavior is not virtuous behavior. Medical scientists then had a poor understanding of HIV, but gay men wanted answers anyways and used violence to display their anger at the Catholic Church and President Ronald Reagan. Nancy and Ronald Reagan were close friends with closeted gay actors who had HIV like Rock Hudson. ACTUP has portrayed the Reagans as the faces of evil when it comes to HIV but in reality they greatly loved and supported their gay friends who had HIV.

There was little agreement amongst global scientists on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of HIV during the 1980s till the late 1990s/early 2000s with the advent of HIV drugs known as Protease Inhibitors. Even today the scientific data is evolving on HIV but that hasn't stimulated much caution with sexually active gay men. HIV rates continue to rise in America particularly with young gay men under the age of 25. The problem with HIV then is the same today and applies to heterosexuals: abstinence or monogamous relationships. It really is that simple.

Michael O’Loughlin did a disservice in his article to HIV positive people like me.

Dimitri Cavalli
4 years 9 months ago

Excellent response!

A few facts:

1) Not all sex acts are equally safe with condoms, which are designed for vaginal intercourse and less effective in preventing AIDS transmission when used during oral and anal sex.

2) ACT-UP and public health officials found hope with condoms with nonoxynol-9, which kills HIV in high doses in test tubes. About 15 years ago, condoms with nonoxynol-9 were taken off the market because nonoxynol-9 also kills human cells and actually increased the risk of transmission.

3) Activists had a point about the FDA delaying new medications to treat AIDS, but the delays weren't caused by Reagan who wanted to see gay men die. The 1962 Kefauver law, passed in response to the thalidomide tragedy, increased the FDA's approval of new medications from a few months to nearly 10 years. Did ACT-UP ever attack Ralph Nader and the consumer safety movement?

Dimitri Cavalli
4 years 9 months ago

Excellent response!

A few facts:

1) Not all sex acts are equally safe with condoms, which are designed for vaginal intercourse and less effective in preventing AIDS transmission when used during oral and anal sex.

2) ACT-UP and public health officials found hope with condoms with nonoxynol-9, which kills HIV in high doses in test tubes. About 15 years ago, condoms with nonoxynol-9 were taken off the market because nonoxynol-9 also kills human cells and actually increased the risk of transmission.

3) Activists had a point about the FDA delaying new medications to treat AIDS, but the delays weren't caused by Reagan who wanted to see gay men die. The 1962 Kefauver law, passed in response to the thalidomide tragedy, increased the FDA's approval of new medications from a few months to nearly 10 years. Did ACT-UP ever attack Ralph Nader and the consumer safety movement?

G Reeder-Ferreira
4 years 9 months ago

MJ is so beautiful in that picture.

Dimitri Cavalli
4 years 9 months ago

It's really sad to see a once great Catholic magazine now whitewashing a vile anti-Catholic organization such as ACT-UP.

What makes the anti-Israel protest outside of Geneva's largest synagogue in 2014, https://www.jta.org/2014/08/19/israel/anti-israel-protesters-target-synagogue-in-geneva , and the protest outside of a Phoenix mosque in 2015, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/protest-heated-peaceful-phoenix-mosque/28199545/ than ACT-UP's protests at Catholic institutions (St. Patrick's wasn't the only one)?

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