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Money for AIDS and Healthcare, Not for ICE and Warfare
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Out-FM show aired on March 31, 2026
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ACT UP Co-Founder Eric Sawyer at 39th Anniversary Protest
By John Riley
Out-FM's John Riley covered ACT UP/NY’s (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) commemoration of 39 years of fighting the AIDS epidemic. We brought you sounds of a rally protesting the Trump administration’s slashing of HIV/AIDS budgets while increasing budgets for ICE and waging the current war on Iran.
Last summer, the Trump administration and its congressional allies enacted spending cuts of $1 trillion that decimated federal healthcare and HIV/AIDS programs and the agencies that operate them. These funds were essentially reallocated from the fight against AIDS to dramatically increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Since Trump took office, funding for ICE and CBP has tripled to nearly $200 billion. The ICE portion expanded the personnel who abduct mostly Black and Brown immigrants and their families from their communities and imprison them in concentration camps before deportation. “The living conditions in these camps are inhumane, and healthcare services are nearly nonexistent resulting in numerous deaths including people with HIV,” said ACT UP/NY member Ryan Foster.
ACT UP Protests Palantir Profiteering
To accomplish this work, ICE contracts with software company Palantir Technologies, which profits handsomely and has an office in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Activists are calling for divestment from Palantir Technologies and the defunding of ICE and the war effort. Sound from the march on Palantir and street action there was included.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is using its new additional funding of $155 billion to wage an unauthorized war against Iran and fund weapons to Israel in the Palestinian genocide. Activists are demanding an end to the war in Iran and the Palestinian genocide.
Mark Milano Poster at 39th Anniversary Action
As part of ACT UP’s anniversary, the group honored member Mark Milano, a longtime AIDS and healthcare activist who died of cancer in early January. He was a leader in the early years of ACT UP and later in the Trump resistance movement through Rise and Resist. Additional ACT UP/NY members who have passed away in recent years and were remembered include Nanette Kazaoka, Alan Timothy Lunceford-Stevens, Mel Stevens, Kathy Ottersten, Gerri Wells, and others.
Salsa Soul Sisters, Premier Lesbian Women of Color Organization
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Out-FM show aired on March 24, 2026
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Salsa Soul Sisters in Early Years
On Tuesday March 24th show, we will hear Stahimili Mapp host a discussion with Cassandra Grant and Juliette Bennett, recorded recently at a gathering hosted by Sinister Wisdom, the lesbian magazine. The convo is centered around the involvement of these women in the premier Lesbian Women of Color organization Salsa Soul Sisters. They will talk about its founding, and especially what this particular organization offered to women of color coming out in the 1970’s along with the varied cultural, political, vocational and creative expressions that women were free to explore in addition to their sexuality. You can see the full video on youtube.
Salsa Soul Sisters, Gay Women United
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About Out-FM
Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. Our program originates from listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. Our programs are archived at outfm.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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