General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A shout out to "social issues" [View all]Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)demanding universal health care? In the 1980's. LGBT people and women's rights groups were authors of the health care reform movement. The very first organized actions by ACT UP were targeting Big Pharma on Wall St. 'No More Business As Usual' was what it said on the poster.
Where were you?
Universal access to health care is and has long been a definitive cornerstone of the LGBT movement. The fact that you are unaware of that simply demonstrates that you are very uninformed about this entire subject, although you are pontificating upon it anyway.
" Outraged by the government's mismanagement of the AIDS crisis, concerned individuals unite to form the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Our first demonstration takes place three weeks later on March 24th on Wall Street, the financial center of the world, to protest the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies (especially Burroughs Wellcome, manufacturer of AZT). Seventeen people are arrested. Shortly after the demonstration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces it will shorten its drug approval process by two years.
January 15, 1988: ACT UP NY's Women's Caucus organizes first ACT UP action focused on women and HIV. Five hundred people protest an article telling heterosexual women that unprotected vaginal intercourse with an HIV+ man is safe. A documentary about the action, "Doctors, Liars, and Women: AIDS Activists Say NO to Cosmo," produced by two Women's Caucus members, is later shown around the country, winning awards and placed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
March 24, 1988: To celebrate our first anniversary, ACT UP returns to Wall Street. More than 100 activists are arrested; ACT UP receives major media coverage and issues central to the AIDS crisis are reported. The concept of "AIDS activism" gains credibility."
http://www.actupny.org/documents/cron-87.html
I'm not sure who you think you are dealing with here. If you read at that link, you will find years of activism around health care. Not to mention other issues such as homelessness, food scarcity. Oh my God, do you know that many 'straight' Meals on Wheels groups would not serve HIV patients? Had to start out own. We stared laundry services and transportation networks, drug supply chains, people went to jail like mad and they did that for YOU.