HRC’s annual fundraising gala in New York City last weekend had some unlikely protesters. Not Westboro or any other antigay organizations, but rather ACT UP, the HIV/AIDS political advocacy group formed in the ’80s.
Specifically, ACT UP was seeking to raise awareness of what they feel is a shortcoming of HRC’s equality index used to rate Fortune 500 companies on their treatment of LGBT employees — that HIV issues aren’t properly incorporated into the scores.
Activists gathered outside the event at the Waldorf Astoria, where tickets went for a cool $475, to voice their message.
ACT UP explained their reasoning in more detail via their Facebook page:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
HRC has created an LGBT equality index to score the Fortune 500 companies, but there’s no mention of HIV and the thousands of LGBT people with HIV in the workplace. We demand that HRC include several criteria to evaluate companies on their treatment of employees living with HIV, as well as their contributions to organizations and causes relate [sic] to reducing the incidence of HIV among LGBT Americans, particularly among the young. For over 30 years, too many have been fired, harassed, outed and discriminated against at work for having HIV. Also at this gala, many of the corporations that HRC will honor actively work against the interests of middle-class and poor Americans, including people with HIV. ACT UP denounces this frequent practice of ‘”pinkwashing” whereby corporations with policies and practices that undermine the people’s well-being are given positive publicity in exchange for maintaining LGBT-friendly (or just equal) workplaces. This is short-sighted and divisive. We demand that HRC develop other criteria that takes into account the impact of companies’ policies on every American, not just LGBT Americans.
Here are some photos from the protest:
h/t: Joe My God
Cam
Don’t forget, when Target donated $150,000 that went to a politician who had ties to a “Kill the Gays” group HRC at first defended their rating of Target of 100% gay LGBT friendly. They actually were attacking other people for suggesting their was a problem with their ratings.
Finally when the backlash grew they grudgingly agreed to take corporate donations into consideration.
But that shows the problem right there. Their initial reaction wasn’t to say “Hey, we’re looking into this, yes, this donating is disturbing” HRC’s initial reaction was to defend Target and attack those pointing out that they had made this horrifying donation.
So I’m sure bunch of new accounts will no doubt show up on here attacking Act-Up and then Queerty for even running this article.
DarkZephyr
I wonder what made them use the term “pink washing”.
EverybodySayLove
Good point, Cam
vive
The HRC exists to defend the interests of their wealthy white donor base, often at the expense of non-wealthy and minority LGBT people. Kudos to ACT UP for disrupting this event, which is normally an exercise in self-satisfaction.
jayj150
There’s a lot of legitimate criticism that can be done of HRC, but this is absurd. HIV-AIDS is NOT an inherently gay issue. Not all gay folks have HIV, not every one with HIV is gay and HIV is not the only disease that can affect gay people. If a company is openly LGB-inclusive, I don’t care if they make it a priority to support fighting one particular disease or not. Why should a company not donating money to “HIV youth” be branded as unfriendly to gay folks?; that’s completely illogical because HIV affect everyone, regardless of their orientation. By that logic, any company not giving money to people affected with any other disease is homophobic. It’s been over 30 years since the AIDS epidemic started; we need to stop trying to blame everyone else(corporations, media, etc) for the failure of people to take care of themselves. It all comes to personal responsibility.
Cam
@jayj150:
Does HIV effect the gay community disproportionately?
Additionally, they said that some of the companies that were scored high also had policies that worked against the well being of people etc…
They seem to be saying that HRC should take ore criteria into consideration instead of the short list they have.
luis_g_santiago
Cam,
Yes, in the US HIV affects the gay community disproportionaly. Here are some stats:
1) According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2/3 of the new infections in the US are among gay men;
2) The CDC has also stated that, if HIV continues at current rates, half (50%) of college-aged gay men will have the infection by the age of 50; for the African American gay men, 60% by the age of 40;
3) Among the youngest MSM, those between the ages of 13 and 24, there was dramatic 22% increase in new infections between 2008 and 2010.
Although the rates of infection are down among women, IV Drug Users, and all other high-risks population, the situation among young gay kids 13-24 is the opposite: it’s going up.
We have a real emergency, a crisis situation, with our young generation of gay men, and it is worse among those of African-American descent.
Thank you,
Luis
luis_g_santiago
I want to add that one of the main demands that ACT UP has on HRC is to use its powerful lobbying capacity to repeal the Helms Amendment once and for all, targeting in the short term the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that severely restrict the language that can be used in the creation of explicit and useful HIV/STD prevention materials. At a time when we need direct, clear, sex explicit prevention messages to reach our young, these guidelines, a left-over from the Helms Amendment, prevent us from doing that. Many government officials have told us how difficult it is to navigate around the obstacles presented by this Amendment and guidelines.
If HRC puts half as much energy and resources on this than it did on same-sex marriage, we could achieve this.
Thank you,
Luis
passingthru
Good grief. Lets all do nothing so that nobody will complain. It seems like ACT UP could put some energy into building a “powerful lobbying capacity” rather than complaining that somebody else should do the work.
Wilberforce
I’ve always been about prevention. Neither HRC nor Act Up has been. So I’ve always seen them as incompetent gay leadership pandering to self-destructive ghetto culture.
jwtraveler
@vive: You hit the issue on the nose.@jayj150: Not all gay people are rich, white and male, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the crowd at an HRC gala.
When gay marriage is the law of the land, HRC will merge with the Log Cabin Republicans as their goals will then be indistinguishable.
jwtraveler
@DarkZephyr: Do you know what pink-washing means? I’ve only heard it used before to refer to the practice of pro-Israel activists touting Israel’s support and acceptance of LGBT people as a way to distract from or mitigate Israel’s human rights abuses vis-à-vis the Palestinians. I guess the idea here is that HRC is honoring companies for their narrow pro-gay policies as a way of distracting from the policies that hurt others, specifically people with HIV/AIDS.
Stefano
@jwtraveler: you are so right. It is sad, but you are so right.
pjm1
ACT up has certainly played a very important role in the LGBTQ and
in many front fight for people with HIV and AIDS.
On the other hand, they have a history of cannibalizing the community and can
be somewhat self righteous.
I will not forget the time when i was working my way through night school, had no
health insurance and was given a ticket for the HRC dinner in NYC. Larry Kramer and
other Act Up activists were getting in my face about health care when i had none and Larry Kramer,
the epitome of ultra rich, entitled and white was spewing his anger at me and others. So,
Act Up has plenty of rich entitled white men and Larry Kramer is at the front of that line along
with others. Act Up is not holier than though and there is plenty of entitlement among that crew.
bobmister250
@vive: I have a newsflash for you. Wealthy, white donors funded the gay rights movement and without them you would not enjoy the rights you have now. Attacking the ‘majority’ will never convince them to give you equal treatment. As for the guy holding up the sign saying “what % of your corporate money goes to HIV+ youth”: The answer is typically 0 because they’re already busy funding the gay rights movement and the bloated US government.
Mr C
@Wilberforce: ‘ghetto culture’ I assume whites no longer catch HIV?
Cam
@luis_g_santiago: said… “If HRC puts half as much energy and resources on this than it did on same-sex marriage, we could achieve this.”
______________________
No, remember, HRC has never really lead a successful effort. They tried to prevent people from suing for marriage saying that the country wasn’t ready for it, and instead they have been working on their ENDA bill for the last two decades. Get Equal really showed what a true advocacy group can do. They formed, they put on pressure, DADT was repealed, court cases struck down marriage.
What did HRC do? Attacked get equal, attacked Dan Choi and anybody else they thought was getting attention, and finally, when the battle was won without them, they supported a book that came out that tried to claim that the new guy they had hired to lead them was the reason Marriage was now legal, even though it was the Eddi Windsor case that had done that.
HRC has tried to lobby for ENDA for decades and has nothing to show for it dispite a 50 million dollar a year budget. The community would have been better of hiring a real lobbying firm for 1/10th as much money and it would have passed 10 years ago.
Cam
@passingthru: said… “It seems like ACT UP could put some energy into building a “powerful lobbying capacity” rather than complaining that somebody else should do the work.”
________________________________
If I’ve read correctly, it was ACT UP that significantly sped up the research and release of usable drugs for people with AIDS, getting rid of the mounds of bureaucracy that used to strangle them.
They managed to do that in a few years, and yet HRC is still trying to get ENDA passed even though a large majority of the country wants it. What HRC wants to do is have parties, hob nob with their favorite legislators and not push them on anything. Sounds cynical but if LGBT’s get full rights, the donations stop coming.
vive
@bobmister250: “I have a newsflash for you. Wealthy, white donors funded the gay rights movement and without them you would not enjoy the rights you have now.”
Organizations like ACT UP have never consisted of a wealthy base (though some of its figures were/are wealthy) yet have done more for gay men than HRC ever achieved.
In another life I actually attended an HRC gala and briefly dated someone who worked for the HRC. Smug, self-satisfied, impotent bunch of snobs obsessed with wealth and upward mobility, mostly.
CoachS
Just reading the discussion here sheds an interesting light upon the whole agenda differences within the LGBTQ movement. I’ve always been aware of the differing tactics between ACT UP and more politically focused organizations. I’ve known that there was some (well placed? mis-placed?) hatred towards HRC in some circles. The same thing happens in the LGBT sports movement, as well, with Athlete Ally becoming outcast for a number of (valid? invalid?) reasons.
I may be naïve. I’m just a guy who’s interested in making life better for the next generation – but isn’t it counterproductive to engage in a bunch of infighting over strategy and the demographic support for different organizations? Shouldn’t we be together and focused on showing the haters that there is no reason to hate?
Cam
@CoachS:
You have a valid point, except for the fact that HRC actively attacked activists pushing for the repeal of DADT, and for gay marriage. Their budget was 50 million a year and yet were spending all of their time, not going after anti-gay folks, but other gay groups they saw as competition.
Then a book comes out that tried to erase all other gay contributions to the fight for equality except that that involved their head guy.
They spent far more time attacking other gays, and activists then they ever did doing any kind of push for rights unfortunately.
passingthru
@Cam: Different group do different things. As long as they’re moving in the right direction, then let’s support it. It’s not a contest you know. Why get in the way of anybody if they’re moving in the right direction? HRC has directly affected my life in a positive way. I will continue to send my money to support HRC.
jayj150
@jwtraveler: I don’t need you to remind me that not all gay men are white and rich, I’m neither of those two things. But I don’t see what that has to do with the point I was making: HIV is NOT an inherently gay issue. It’s not a ‘gay disease’; not giving money to HIV-research doesn’t make LGB-inclusive companies homophobic. Act-Up should focus on promoting PREVENTION, and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, instead of blaming the rest of the world for this generation’s refusal to educate and protect themselves.
jar
@pjm1: Yes, no one should disturb your comfort at a f-ing gala! Read your history- it was that very discomfort that Act Up brought to politicians, the catholic church, the CDC, and a host of others that created the successes of Act Up to which we all owe a great deal of gratitude. Larry Kramer is not a perfect person (who is?), but he was a, if not the, seminal leader in our community fighting against the scourge of AIDS. Ah, but he gave you indigestion, so he’s a big old meanie. Grow up.
jar
@bobmister250: Prove it. And I’d love to hear your defense of the complete absence of our sisters in that battle. Come on, smart guy, teach us the truth.
jar
@Cam: Cam, you are absolutely right. Even the broad picture painted by How To Survive a Plague shows the importance of Act Up in extending and saving lives.
HRC has been a useless organization from its inception. One could argue successfully that their conciliatory approach (including endorsing republicans) has done more harm than good. Lambda is almost as bad. These cowards have always tried to thwart the Edie Windsor’s from fighting for justice out of their own bourgeois cowardice.
KM201
I’m so glad that the community is finally waking up to the fact that HRC and GLAAD is useless. Maybe we can start to support new leadership that can actually get stuff done and hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire.
Polaro
Typically, bitchy queens complaining about HRC and people trying to make a difference. Jealous, bitchy, underachieving queens – the whole reason I stopped reading comments. Act Up ceased being relevant a while back, protesting HRC and not a real enemy is evidence.l if you people even matter.
Polaro
@vive: Just what is this mysterious cause that HRC is fighting for rich gays? I’d love to know?
Polaro
@Cam: Should have figured you’d be the first to bash HRC. Shame you never have anything good to say about anything. Bitter?
Fang
I love ACT UP’s sentiment about the HRC. It rings very true and we should continue to be critical about this elitist, corporate pandering organisation.
Cam
@Polaro: said…. ” Should have figured you’d be the first to bash HRC. Shame you never have anything good to say about anything. Bitter?”
______________________
Anybody notice a few things about the people that come on here to defend HRC?
1. When they respond to the person who complained about HRC they are never able to point out where that person was factually incorrect. They just make vague statements that HRC is trying to do good or something.
2. Rather than engage in a discussion, since they can’t win on the facts they will attack, calling the person who pointed out issues with HRC, bitter, or on many posts on here, ugly, old, whatever insult they are most afraid of.
The fact is, my comment about HRC fighting against marriage and trying to get couples not to file cases was accurate. They tried to get people to stop pushing for a DADT repeal, that was accurate, when the ball kept rolling they grudgingly went along, but people remember recent history. We all saw the attacks against marriage advocates, the attacks against Dan Choi, and the phony book that recently came out trying to give HRC and the head of HRC false credit for all movement on marriage equality in the country.
Sorry guys, it’s not that you’re not good liars, or you’re not trying hard, it’s just that expecting people to forget things that happened just a few years ago is a bit much.
I’m sure with your 50 million dollar a year budget and some friends in the press you may be able to rewrite history, you must might need to wait 20 years before people actually believe it.
Cam
@Polaro: said…. “Typically, bitchy queens complaining about HRC and people trying to make a difference. Jealous, bitchy, underachieving queens – the whole reason I stopped reading comments.”
_________________________-
Don’t you love it, when an organization that is fighting an image of being corporate, elitist, entitled and out of touch with actual people sends people in here to attack people by calling them “Underachieving”?
That right there is HRC ladies and gentlemen. In their mind, if you don’t like them, you must be underachieving, poor, and “Gasp” jealous!
Hey, great way to live up to the worst stereotype of your organization.
AxelDC
HRC exists mainly to provide celebrity-filled parties for its Gaylist donors. Consideration for the gays across the country who can’t afford $1000 mixers in DC, NYC, LA or SF is secondary to having Guppies rub shoulders with Ellen, Portia, Neil Patrick, and Elton.
HRC has actively stood in the way of the marriage fight, telling groups like Equality Maryland to back down and not rock the boat. They would prefer to spend 30 years fighting fecklessly for ENGDA, that still hasn’t passed, than getting in the trenches for marriage equality and ending DADT.
I will be happy the day HRC closes its doors, so that people won’t foolishly think that HRC speaks for gay rights and the gay community.
pjm1
@jar: Since i was there i do not need
to read the history. You should read your last comment to me and apply it
to yourself.