Poster announcing the action at St Patrick’s Cathedral

On this day in 1989, AIDS activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) undertook one of their most controversial actions. In conjunction with the Women’s Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!) they picketed outside St Patrick’s Cathedral but also took direct action inside.

The protesters had given advance notice of their intentions, which prompted a range of responses from authorities. The most drastic was having sniffer dogs sweep the Cathedral for explosives earlier in the day. Hundreds of uniformed police officers were assembled outside and plain clothes police officers mingled with the congregation inside.

Some 4,500 protesters gathered outside, some of them lying down in the street to block traffic on Fifth Avenue. Others carried a giant condom with the words “Cardinal O’Condom” written along the side. This was a reference to Cardinal John O’Connor who, in addition to his homophobic, anti-condom and anti-abortion preaching, was also a staunch opponent of sex education in schools. [To no one’s surprise, Ronald Reagan appointed O’Connor to his Presidential Commission on HIV, whilst excluding his own Surgeon General C.Everett Koop. Koop advocated all of the measures that O’Connor and Reagan opposed.]

The protesters also included artist Ray Navarro dressed as Jesus, supposedly covering the event for “the Fire and Brimstone Network” [see video at the end of this post, which includes footage on the protest.]

But it was events inside the Cathedral that proved the most controversial. It began with activists pretending to be ushers and handing out flyers to those entering the church, explaining why there would be a protest. Then, as O’Connor began to take Mass, some activists lay down in the aisles. Other activists stood up in the pews and shouted things like “Why are you murdering us?” and “Stop the Madness!”

O’Connor, hoping to drown out the protests, asked the congregation to stand and pray. Activists merely shouted louder and started blowing whistles. Police and church heavies moved in to carry the protesters out. The majority had to be carried out on stretchers as they refused to get up from the floor of the aisle.

But even when this group of activists had been removed, there were still others inside, sitting quietly and pretending to be worshippers. These were the so-called ‘Speaking in Tongues’ group. Their strategy was to wait until Communion, then walk up as if to receive Communion. When they were offered the Communion wafer they would each make their own political statement.

The first member to do this was Tom Keane. The priest gave him the wafer and said, “This is the body of Christ.” Keane responded by saying “Opposing safe-sex education is murder.” He then crushed the wafer up, dropped it on the floor and then lay on the floor himself.

It has been suggested that Keane spat the wafer out before crushing it up and that he lay on the floor in an attempt to prevent others from receiving Communion. However, in his own testimony to the ACT UP Oral History Project, Keane denies spitting the wafer out and doesn’t mention his motive for lying on the floor. Whatever the reality, the priest simply stepped over him and continued giving Communion.

Keane was one of 111 people arrested inside and outside the Cathedral. But it was his actions (and alleged actions) with the Communion wafer that drew the most criticism. Everyone from New York Mayor Ed Koch, who was in the congregation, to other ACT UP members denounced the action as an over-reaction and disrespectful of Christian beliefs. But others felt that the gesture was understandable, given the Church’s belligerence in the face of the rising toll of AIDS deaths.

Ultimately, all of the protesters were charged with minor offences and given community sentences. Those who refused to undertake community service were tried but did not serve time in jail.