Even though ACT-UP’s (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) rally, march and demonstration on Wall Street to demand an end to the global crisis of AIDS that began 30 years ago and decimated almost an entire generation of hay men in the 1980′s. wasn’t set to start until the late morning,  10 brave members of ACT UP chained themselves across Wall Street  as the opening bell rang on New York Stock Exchange floor this morning  demanding that a tax be added to all stock transactions in order to fund HIV/AIDS treatments worldwide.

Act Up Press Release

Activists kicking off action for ACT UP’s 25th Anniversary chained themselves to the entrance to Wall Street’s Stock Exchange just moments before the opening bell this morning. 10 were arrested. AIDS Activists demand a Financial Speculation Tax, a tiny tax on speculative financial transactions that would raise up to $350 billion in the United States annually to fund 15 million people on treatment by 2015 and lead to an eventual end to the AIDS pandemic. The activists had business suits, which allowed them to blend in downtown, but then donned bandit masks and Robin Hood hats. The international campaign for a Financial Speculation Tax has often been called the “Robin Hood Tax Campaign.” “The Financial Speculation Tax Wall Street can afford this extremely tiny tax on the ‘casino economy’ transactions that contributed to the recession. People with AIDS need that money to restore draconian budget cuts to put us on track to end the AIDS pandemic,” said activist Megan Mulholland

25 years ago ACT UP members demonstrated at Wall Street and Broadway to demand greater access to experimental AIDS drugs and for a coordinated national policy to fight the disease.

God Bless ACT UP.  Without them there would be ZERO long term survival from HIV/AIDS you’d be surprised how few rights you’d have today, or how few friends still alive.