Public Health Menace

The "Stop the Church" demonstration that occasioned this poster was one of ACT UP's most controversial events. As thousands protested outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, a group of activists entered the church to disrupt the mass conducted by Cardinal O'Connor. In an expression of their opposition to the Cardinal's stance on AIDS and related issues, they shouted at him, threw condoms in the air, and chained themselves to the pews. They objected to statements he had made that abstinence rather than safe sex education should be taught in the schools, that homosexuality is a sin, and that clean needles should not be distributed to drug addicts. In the weeks following the protest, the media focused on the actions inside the church rather than the concerns that had brought thousands of people to the demonstration.