The next DSA Queer Socialists Working Group meeting will be on October 25th at 12PM PT / 3PM ET.

NOTE: QSWG meetings are only open to DSA members who identify as Queer. Join the QSWG here if you would like to participate in our events and learn of future ones.

Our subject for discussion will be the history of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). We have so much to learn from ACT UP’s organizing as we confront a public health crisis in our own time and continue to struggle for healthcare as a human right, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, citizenship, religion, or HIV status.

Instead of reading something, we will be watching a very important documentary titled United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. This film traces the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the grassroots perspective of the people who were in the trenches fighting the epidemic. It features oral histories from members of ACT UP, as well as rare archival footage, to depict ACT UP’s battles against corporate greed, social indifference, and government neglect.

United in Anger: A History of ACT UP can be watched for free online through Kanopy (a public library streaming service), YouTube, and is available on other platforms. Please let us know if you have any trouble accessing the film and we can assist you: queersocialists@dsacommittees.org

We are very grateful to be joined for a conversation with one of the film's producers, Sarah Schulman. Schulman is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, nonfiction writer, AIDS historian, journalist, activist, and professor at CUNY College of Staten Island. She was an active member of ACT UP from 1987–1992, participating in actions at the FDA, NIH, Stop the Church, and was arrested when ACT UP occupied Grand Central Station protesting the First Gulf War. In 1992, Schulman and five other women co-founded the Lesbian Avengers, a direct action organization. Schulman is a co-producer of United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. Her upcoming book set for release in 2021 is titled Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York, 1987-1993.

We hope to see you there!

Solidarity,

Danya Lagos-Brown

Luke Thibault