AIDS Ashes Action at the White House

A flyer announcing 1992 AIDS Ashes Action at the White House

ACT UP

Quick Facts

Location:

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC

On October 11th, 1992, protesters made their way to the White House to take part in a deeply personal protest. Heeding the call to action (see the image above), protestors marched to both sides of the White House carrying urns filled with the ashes of their loved ones who had passed away from AIDS.  

Standing at the North and South Side fences, protestors threw the ashes of their loved ones onto the President’s lawn. For those gathered, these ashes were not only a symbol of prior President Ronald Reagan’s and current President George H.W. Bush’s lack of action to fight the AIDS crisis, but a literal representation of how that inaction was killing people.  

One protestor said about President Bush: “If you won't come to the funeral, we'll bring the funeral to you.” 

When the first Ashes Action took place in 1992, AIDS was the number one cause of death for men in the US ages 25 to 44. The AIDS crisis was a period in American history that began in the 1980’s with the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. AIDS could be contracted by anyone, but disproportionately affected the LGBTQ+ community, primarily gay and bisexual men. Due to the ingrained homophobia of the time, AIDS was largely ignored by the United States government and Americans as a whole. 

As more people died from AIDS, protests were held across the country to bring attention to the epidemic, including at the White House. 

The organizer of this protest and many other AIDS protests during that period, was a grassroots activist group created in 1987 called the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). ACT UP was formed by a diverse group of people “in response to social neglect, government negligence and the complacency of the medical establishment during the 1980s”(1). Many of the ACT UP members belonged to the heavily affected LGBTQ+ community and were motivated by both sadness and anger at the years of inaction by those in power. Using striking methods of direct action, ACT UP made it impossible for America to continue ignoring the AIDS crisis. The Ashes Action, which also took place at the White House in 1996, is one example the direct actions ACT UP organized to call attention to the AIDS epidemic and demand the government do more to help. 

Reflection Question

Think of someone important in your life who has passed away. How do you remember and honor them? Use your phone to look up a picture of this person. Time yourself for 60 seconds. Just reflect.

(1): "Queer Nightlife, Joyous Resistance, and the Legacy of ACT UP" by Han Powell