1987-03-24 ACT UP demonstrates on Wall Street

ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) converges on Wall Street in New York City to stage its first major demonstration. Exposing the ties between the corporate pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration, demonstrators blocked traffic during the morning rush hour and many were arrested for acts of civil disobedience.

1987-10-02 Chicago's March on Washington Day

To raise awareness of the upcoming National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, Chicago’s Mayor Harold Washington issues an official proclamation declaring the day of the march, October 11th, Chicago March on Washington Day.

1987-10-10 Rally in Washington, DC for Right to Marry

Two thousand same-sex couples and several thousand supporters stage a mass wedding outside the offices of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. to protest their lack of access to legally recognized marriages. The motto of the demonstrators was “Love Makes a Family, Nothing Else, Nothing Less.”

1987-10-11 First Display of Names Project Memorial Quilt in Washington, DC

With nearly two thousand panels, the Names Project Memorial Quilt, which commemorates the lives of people who have died of AIDS, was displayed nationally for the first time on the Mall in Washington D.C. The name of each person was read aloud as their quilt was opened. Readers included Cleve Jones, who was a founder of the Names Project, as well as Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Harvey Fierstein, and Nancy Pelosi.

1987-10-13 Massive Civil Disobedience Outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC

Hundreds of people engage in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC with about 800 demonstrators arrested by police. They were protesting the Court’s decision in 1986 in Bowers v. Hardwick, which declared sodomy laws constitutional. This was the largest such civil disobedience outside the Supreme Court ever held.