3. New York Stock Exchange, Location of AIDS Protest

The New York Stock Exchange isn’t generally at the top of most people’s mind when thinking of LGTB sites in New York City, but the Wall Street Stock Exchange was the site of two major AIDS protests in 1989. New York City’s history with AIDS is a tumultuous one that resulted in countless deaths before it was taken seriously by anyone in government positions and even the LGBT community.

The protests at the New York Stock Exchange were organized by the AIDS activist group, ACT UP, to protest Burroughs Wellcome, the pharmacy that put an unreasonably high price tag on their AIDS medicine, AZT. The expense of the drug was too high for most people with AIDS to afford and resulted in a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering for those unable to pay for it.

When the government refused to take AIDS seriously, Larry Kramer spoke out in an empowering speech in 1987 and ACT UP, The Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, was created shortly after. Their motto was “Science = Death.”

In addition to the protest, Peter Staley, Lee Arsensault, Greg Bordowitz, Scott Robbe, James McGrath, and two photographers broke into the Stock Exchange, chaining themselves to the VIP balcony as they dropped fake money and interrupted the first bell for the first time in the building’s history. The protest was successful and the price of the drug was lowered only four days later.