The transmission of ACT UP's movement histories is indispensable to the potential for what Jose Esteban Munoz calls "queer futurity," or "a temporal arrangement in which the past is a field of possibility in which subjects can act in the present in the service of a new futurity." Roger Hallas argues that ACT UP's material and visual archive alone…

When ACT UP is remembered as the pinnacle of postmodern activism, other forms and forums of activism that were taking place during that time--practices that were linked, related, just modern, in dialogue or even opposition to ACT UP's "confrontational activism"--are forgotten. In its time, ACT UP was embedded in New York City, and a…

AIDS, from the beginning, has been a mnemonic pandemic. Remembering and forgetting have reflected and constituted the vicissitudes of HIV/AIDS, its inventions, significations, and transformations in and across time, then and now and into the welter, promise and pitfall, of future and futurity. The 25th anniversary of AIDS Coalition to Unleash…

Revisiting AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) restarts the "panic of loss" characterizing the author's youth. The author argues that the 25th anniversary of ACT UP marks the failure to consider Raymond Williams's "structure of feeling". Williams counterposes this structure against falsely viewing the past as formalized into something…

The 25th anniversary of the founding of ACT UP provides a moment to reflect on the group's unquestionably profound effects on the management of HIV/AIDS, the queer community, the history of social movements in this country, and even the development of queer theory in the academy. But it should also encourage individuals to consider the ways in…

The slogans, the effigy, and the disruption of public space reflect tactics for which AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is commonly remembered, but the occasion is somewhat unique. These protests and actions challenged the Bush and Clinton administrations' policy on HIV-positive Haitian migrants fleeing political repression in Haiti after…

As early as 1983, a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenders (LGBTs) in the San Francisco Bay Area met with the United Way to discuss the needs of the community in the workplace. In 1986, the United Way authorized a board-level task force on LGBT issues, which looked at health and human care concerns. In 1990, Building Bridges was formed…

While many adult learners may feel hesitant to voice their opinions in a classroom, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adults are especially aware that they are functioning in a critical, heteronormative society. However, in a climate of respect and safety they can gain confidence in sharing their true selves and opinions. An…

This chapter explores how theory, activism, and practice around sexual orientation and gender identity come together, as viewed through the lens of queer critical postmodernism.