ActUp/RI
ActUp/RI, the Rhode Island chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was formed in the spring of 1987, largely through the energies of Stephen Gendin, and continued as an active organization until 1993. Frequent targets of the group's demonstrations included the RI Department of Health, RI Project AIDS, and The Providence Journal. ACT UP RI was re-formed in November 2011 and now meets monthly. It represented itself as a group of activists at ACT UP/NY’s 25th anniversary. Actions Health Department sit-in In the spring of 1987, ActUp/RI took the lead in planning a protest against the imposition of mandatory HIV testing planned by the RI Department of Health. Six members were arrested while occupying the office of H. Denman Scott, Director of the RI Department of Health, while dozens of supporters rallied outside with placards and chants. The effect of this and similar efforts was to substantially alter the legislation enabling mandatory HIV testing, by restricting its implementation to prison inmates (the original legislation had included provisions for testing all pregnant women, anyone admitted to a hospital, anyone seeking prenatal care or family planning services, and anyone seeking treatment for drug abuse). Westminster Street die-in Soon after