Who is AIDS Activist Peter Staley?
By: Jeffry J. Iovannone
Tags: Talk Queerly, LGBTQ, HIV, History, Politics

Veteran AIDS activist Peter Staley has recently been in the news for his role as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on May 14th of 2019. The suit, Peter Staley, et al. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., et al., filed in a San Francisco federal court, alleges that four large pharmaceutical companies — Gilead Sciences, Inc.; Bristol Meyer Squibb; Johnson & Johnson; and Japan Tobacco — have rigged the composition of HIV combination drugs to contain drugs under patent. This practice results in the artificial inflation of the cost of these medications, as drugs under patent cost more than generic alternatives (Market Watch). In the 1990s, Staley played a key role in the development of combination drug therapies to treat HIV, though many younger gay and queer men might not know his name or the impact his work has had on their lives.

Staley is undoubtedly one of the most influential activists of the AIDS Civil Rights Movement, a subset of the broader LGBTQ liberation movement. After coming down with a cold he could not shake, he was diagnosed what was then referred to as AIDS-Related Complex (ARC) in 1985. ARC referred to the stage of HIV infection in which an individual exhibited symptoms of immune suppression, but did not yet have AIDS. At the time, a diagnosis of AIDS was a virtual death sentence. Organizations such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and the People With AIDS Coalition existed mainly to provide information, resources, and support to those living with the disease, but were not activist organizations who lobbied on behalf of the gay community or those who were HIV positive.

In this column, I discuss culture and politics through a queer lens often absent in the mainstream to help amplify LGBTQ issues and perspectives.

In 1985, when he was diagnosed, Staley was a closeted bond trader on Wall Street for J.P. Morgan. Amidst growing anger and desperation at the lack of response to the epidemic, in particular the lack of effective treatment, ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, was born in New York City on March 12th of 1987. The organization described itself as “a non-partisan group united in anger and committed to nonviolent direct action to end the AIDS crisis.” By 1987, Staley was also ready to act, and after he was handed a flyer on his way to work advertising the nascent ACT UP, he began attending their evening meetings. Despite his burgeoning activism, Staley remained closeted at work by day while fundraising for ACT UP at night. As the AIDS Civil Rights Movement accelerated, he went on disability leave and became a full-time activist.

ACT UP used confrontational street activism to demand a response from the government, the medical establishment, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, and the media. In confronting medical and pharmaceutical industries, they operated under the mantra “drugs into bodies,” and worked to quicken the FDA’s approval process for potentially life-extending medications.

Some of ACT UP’s most important actions include protesting the FDA in regard to its slow drug-approval process, protesting St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan over the anti-safe-sex stance of the Catholic Church, pressuring the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to expand its definition of AIDS to include symptoms experienced by women and injecting-drug users, storming the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for expanded treatment options, and protesting the Bush Administration’s financing of the Gulf War while refusing to increase funding for AIDS programs. ACT UP also staged a political funerals. In Washington, D.C., ACT UPers processed from the Capitol to the White House lawn, where they scattered the ashes of loved ones who had died from AIDS.

During his tenure with ACT UP, Staley tenaciously educated himself about the science of HIV/AIDS out of necessity. He was most interested in pressuring the pharmaceutical industry to lower the cost of existing medications and to work with drug companies to develop new treatments. His approach to dealing with the medical-scientific establishment was informed by the principles articulated by the People With AIDS Self-Empowerment Movement.

In June of 1983, gay men attending a national gay health conference in Denver, Colorado formed the Advisory Committee of People With AIDS and wrote a manifesto articulating both affirmative standards of care and the rights of people with AIDS, or, PWAs, aptly titled “The Denver Principles.” The manifesto stated that PWAs — not scientific or medical professionals — were the experts on their own condition and should be involved at every level of decision making regarding the epidemic, treatment included.

On April 25th of 1989, Staley, along with Lee Arsenault, Blane Mosley, and James McGrath, traveled to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina where they barricaded themselves in the office of pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome to protest the high cost of the antiretroviral drug AZT. The quartet blocked the door of an unoccupied office before police cut a hole through the wall to apprehend them. Staley and his crew then chained themselves together before officers cut them apart and arrested them for trespassing and destruction of property. Burroughs Wellcome would eventually drop all charges against the protestors after a roughly 9,000 dollar fee was paid for property damage.