Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - September 21, 2000
Ulysses Torassa, Examiner Medical Writer
The ad's 194 individual signers and five organizations are asking the gay community not to patronize ACT UP/S.F.'s $1.6-million-a year medical marijuana store and to press city officials to keep members from harassing and intimidating HIV educators.
It was set to debut Thursday in the Bay Area Reporter and Frontiers Magazine. The group that sponsored it, calling itself AIDS Activists Against Violence and Lies, were also to hold a press conference to announce the effort Thursday.
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was founded in the late 1980s as a method for direct action to bring more attention and help to people with AIDS. Chapters are autonomous, however, and since the mid-1990s the San Francisco branch has been agitating against traditional AIDS therapies and now says HIV is not the cause of AIDS.
They are best known for disrupting public meetings with angry shouts and accusations of murder. Some members are facing misdemeanor battery charges stemming from their actions at two meetings this year.
Michael Lauro of the group Survive AIDS, formerly known as ACT UP/Golden Gate, has been coordinating the effort to rein them in. He said their tactics were interfering with people's First Amendment rights to speech and assembly and were scaring people away from attending important AIDS education events.
"I sense a commitment, finally, within our community to confront their violence and their violent message," Lauro said.
They are especially keen to go after the medical marijuana club because profits from it support the group's activities, he said.
ACT UP/S.F. members say they have little to fear from the new effort, and consider the ad's signers to be part of an "AIDS industry" that has cropped up around the disease. The group also plans to respond with a full-page ad of its own, said member Michael Bellefountaine.
"These are the people who told us that protease inhibitors were the cure, and it's no wonder they are rallying around to suppress our message," he said. Bellefountaine said the 1,300 people who bought marijuana at their store were well aware of ACT UP/S.F.'s message and its tactics, and choose to shop there anyway.
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