LGBT & AIDS Activists Stage Die-In Outside Trump Tower

Over 100 LGBT and AIDS activists turned up outside Trump
Tower last night to protest Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meeting with 400 Evangelical religious leaders in New York City.

The protest was organized by activist group ACT UP NY (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) to combat Trump's use of the recent massacre at an Orlando gay bar to push Islamaphobia while meeting with right-wing, anti-LGBT religious groups to appeal to conservative voters.

Activists yelled chants like "Donald Trump, Toxic Dump" and "Stop the Hate, Stop the Killing." Between the chants, multiple community members spoke about the effects of violence and hate speech on the LGBT community.

"It's awful that Donald Trump is using the Orlando massacre to push his agenda of xenophobia and bigotry when in this case, the hatred came from an American who grew up amid the hateful religious rhetoric spread by Evangelical leaders and right-wing politicians," said ACT UP NY member Brandon Cuicchi.

Toward the end of the protest, activists staged a die-in on the sidewalk in front of Trump Tower to symbolize those LGBT people and allies lost to gun violence in Orlando. The act recalled the early days of the AIDS crisis, when ACT UP NY regularly staged die-ins to symbolize deaths from
AIDS.

Founded in 1987, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. ACT UP meets every Monday night in New York City at the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street off 7th Ave.