ACT UP To Mark 30 Year Fight Against AIDS In Greenwich Village Thursday

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — One of New York's oldest anti-AIDS organizations will mark 30 years of fighting the disease with a rally at the AIDS memorial in Greenwich Village on Thursday.

ACT UP, which was first formed in March 1987, will gather at the memorial, at West 12th Street, at 4 p.m. before marching to Union Square.

ACT UP, which stands for the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, and community groups that support it say that in addition to marking 30 years of the organization's work, they'll call for affordable drug treatments for HIV and hepatitis C and better access to health care.

"We will commit ourselves to resisting the current political environment based on fear-mongering, bigotry, and the disenfranchisement of vulnerable people, including people living with HIV and hepatitis C," the rally's organizers wrote on Facebook.

The public memorial is adjacent to the former St. Vincent's Hospital, which was home to the city's largest AIDS ward. In addition, the memorial is steps away form the LGBT Community Center, at 208 W 13 St., where ACT UP and other advocacy groups first began organizing in the 1980s.

Lead rendering via the NYC Aids Memorial.